THe before time
by shana852963
Summary: James, Albus, Lilly, Hugo and Rose find themselves thrown back in time during Harry, Ron and Hermione's 6th year.
1. We're at Hogwarts!

AN-

AN- Hey guys, I hope you like this story. I know the idea has been used before, but I really wanted to do a story with this, so read and review 

The snow of December fell down, as the inhabitants of the home in Godric's Hallow watched from the windows, sipping hot chocolate, as they talked among each other.

"So Hogwarts really has 142 stair cases," Lilly Potter asked her older brother Albus.

"Yah, and they can move too!" he told her.

Lilly looked at her cousin Hugo, they both had looks of shock on their faces.

"I thought James was kidding," Lilly said.

"What about the ghosts?" Hugo asked his older sister, Rose. "Does one of them really teach a class?"

Rose nodded. "His name is Professor Binns, and he teaches History of Magic."

"Yah, and he's probably the most boring teacher in history," James said.

Rose shot him a dirty look. "If you would just pay attention instead of play around in the back of the classroom, maybe what he's saying wouldn't seem so dull."

"No one can pay attention in that class," James said.

"I can, so can Albus," she retorted.

James stared at his younger brother. "You mean you actually listen in that class," he asked, a smile starting to form over his mouth.

"Umm, well, sort of…" Albus mumbled.

Before James could make any sort of comment, Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione walked into the room, and James knew better then to taunt Albus in front of his parents.

"Well, we're off to Luna's," Hermione said. "We should be back by 11."

The adults were going to a Christmas party and even though the kids had been invited to go, their parents thought it would be best if they stayed behind since they would probably get rambunctious there.

"Am I in charge?" James asked his father eagerly.

"After what happened last time? No, none of you are going to be in charge." Harry said.

"One minor explosion and your labeled for life," James said under his breath.

"If you need anything, Floo for us at Luna's," Ginny said.

And with a final good-bye, the four adults disappeared into thin air.

"Well, shall we start with the trouble making then?" James asked getting up.

Lilly and Hugo laughed, but Rose gave him a stern look. Albus did nothing.

James reached into his pocket and pulled out 5 spherical shaped objects.

"Uncle George gave me these yesterday when we got home," James explained. "He said that he'd been working on them for ages, and I was the first person to get them!"

"What do they do?" Hugo asked anxiously.

James shrugged. "Dunno, but it must be good, 'cause he told me not to try them around mum and dad."

"I think you should toss them out," Rose said. "Uncle George has a reputation of getting us into trouble."

"Aww, come on Rosie, he's just trying to have fun with us," Lilly said. "Try them out James!"

"Alright, I'm just supposed to chuck them…"

James threw one of the balls into the middle of the room. The results were immediate. There was a loud hissing noise, and everything surrounding them turned bright blue.

"That's pretty cool!" Albus said. He had expected much worse from the balls, and he had been right to do so, because at that moment, all the furniture in the room began spinning at top speed.

"You see what you've done!" Rosie yelled at James. "This is all your fault!"

James looked slightly panicked as the things began moving even faster, but just as quickly as it had started, the balls magic stopped, and the furniture returned to the ground, though not to their rightful places.

"Well this is just great," Rose said. "Now we have to move everything back to where it goes!"

"Jezze, calm down Rose," James said. "There's 5 of us, we'll have it fixed in no time."

Rose said nothing, but gave him a reproachful look.

"I'll pick up the books," Lilly offered, placing the discarded books back on the bookshelf.

"Come on Albus, let's move the couch back." James said.

Hugo and Rose began hanging back up pictures, mumbling apologies to the portraits.

Within 10 minutes, no one could tell what the room had once looked like.

"See Rose, I told you we would work this out you worry to much," James said, grinning at her.

She rolled her eyes, "Yah yah, you were right," she said, but the noticed something in the far corner on the room. "Hey what's that?"

They went over to it, and found the shattered remains of a vase.

"Uh-oh," Lilly said.

"Don't worry, we'll just call Teddy over to fix it," James said.

"That's not going to work James," Albus said, examining the pieces. "This was that goblin made vase dad got mom for her birthday last year.

"So?"

"So, Goblin made things can't be repaired!" Rose cried. "They put all sorts of jinxes and charms on them!"

"I'm sure there's a way to fix it," James said, although not looking so sure of this. "Come on, let's look through dad's stuff."

The five headed upstairs, to Harry and Ginny's room.

It wasn't kept neat, yet you defiantly couldn't say it was messy either. The bed was made, though several of the pillows were askew, and the desk had stacks of parchment that were stacked in no exact order.

"Let's hurry up and find something to fix the vase," Albus whispered.

They went over to the closet and opened it, finding boxes of odd-looking instruments. Harry worked at the Ministry as and Aurror, so he had many dark wizard catchers and stuff the reverse dark magic, though he didn't often use them, he was required to have them.

"There has to be something in here," James mumbled as he tossed aside sneakascopes and a thin gold pole.

"What's this?" asked Hugo, holding up a large square object, with a lever on the side of it.

"No clue," James said, getting up to have a better look at it. "How about you Rosie?"

Rose shook her head.

"Well, only one way to find out what it is," James said.

"You're not going to try it are you?" Lilly asked her brother.

"Of course I am, dad wouldn't keep anything really dangerous in the house, besides, if we don't try it out, how will we know if this can fix the vase or not."

Everyone huddled around the device, as James pulled the lever.

A weird glow radiated from the box, and the sides of it seemed to be breaking apart from each other.

At first, James though another one of George's balls had gone off, but none of the furniture was moving.

Just then, the light burst form the box, shining brightly throughout the whole room. It was hard to see anything, but James felt his feet leave the ground, as well as Lilly's who was standing right next to him.

He felt as though he was thrust forward, like he was traveling by portkey, and then, he felt his feet reach the ground again, and the glowing light vanished.

"What in the hell was that?" Albus demanded, getting his glasses off the floor, and placing them back on his face.

"Where are we?" Hugo asked, looking around.

No one else up until that point seemed to realize that they were no longer in Harry and Ginny's bedroom.

"Oh my goodness," Rose breathed. "We're at Hogwarts!"


	2. The Portural Revinsive

"How can we be at Hogwarts

"How can we be at Hogwarts?" Hugo asked in amazement, as he looked around. "We were just in Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's room!"

"I dunno, but were defiantly here," James said. "In the first floor corridor to be exact."

While Hugo and Lily took in the great castle they had never seen before, Rose turned to James and Albus, and said in a worried tone, "How do you think we got here?"

They both shrugged their shoulders. "I guess it has something to do with that lever James pulled," Albus said.

James shifted incommutably, "Well, I suppose we should go talk to Professor McGonagall," he said. "I mean, she has to be here, she's the headmistress!"

'Good idea," Rose said, starting down the corridor, "But we better find her quick, so she can send us home before our parents get back."

"Yah, like she wont tell them the second we leave," James said under his breath, but he followed her.

The five stopped in front of a large stone gargoyle.

"Wow! What's that?" Lily asked as she ran her hands over it.

"That," Albus said. "Is a good question."

"It's in the spot the Girl in Red should be." Rose stated, staring at the Gargoyle suspiciously.

"The Girl in Red?" Hugo asked confused.

"It's a picture of a little girl in a red dress," Rose explained to her younger brother. "Her frame doubles as a door to get into the Headmistresses office, but you have to say a password to get in."

Lily and Hugo exchanged excited smiles. 'I can't wait until I go here!" Lily said longingly.

"You reckon it's new?" James asked Rose in a hushed tone. "I mean, the girl in red was good, but she never was good at thinking up passwords."

"It must be," Rose said.

"Well then," James said, walking over to the gargoyle. "Maybe it kept the same password. Innocence!"

The Gargoyle remained still.

"James, your such a moron," Rose said, coming over next to him. "If they got a new entrance, then obviously they've changed the password. Let's just go up the Gryffindor Tower and see if McGonagall's there."

"Good thinking," Albus said. "Let's go."

Thrilled that they were going to see even more of the enchanting castle, Hugo and Lily rushed after the older three, though Lily got stuck in the trick staircase for almost five minutes, before Albus and James were able to heave her out.

"Here it is," James said as the came to a stop in front of a picture of a fat lady in pink gowns. "The Gryffindor common room."

"Harmony," Rose said to the lady.

The lady stared down upon the five. "It certainly is not," she said. "And this is the GRYFFINDOR common room, by the way."

"Um, we know that," Albus said, looking at Rose unsure of what she meant.

"So, I advise you to move along to whatever house common room you belong in." she said shortly.

"What? We're Gryffindor's," James said impatiently, indicating to him, Albus and Rose. "Come on, we need to talk to Professor McGonagall about something! Your not still sore about me coming in 5 hours after curfew last week are you?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about," the lady said stubbornly. "And as for you being Gryffindors, I happen to know every student who resides in that house, and neither of you do, although he," she pointed to Albus. "Resembles someone who does, but is far too small to be him."

James opened his mouth to protest, but Rose dragged him away.

"Come on, lets just find Professor Longbottem,"

"But he won't be here," Albus said as they left the Gryffindor entrance. "He left for the holidays, remember? He's probably at Luna's too."

"Well then what are we supposed to do then?" Rose cried exasperatingly.

"What are you doing there?!" came a cracked voice behind them.

They spun around to see a bloodshot, tired man walking towards them, a cat closely behind him.

"Who's this?" Hugo whispered.

"I don't know," Rose said in a worried tone.

"What are you doing out of class? Skipping are you?"

"What'd you mean skipping?" James asked him indignantly. "It's Christmas break! There are no classes!"

"Think you'll be a wise one 'ey?" the man said loudly. "I'll just see how smart you think you are after I get through with you!"

"OY!"

At last, a voice they recognized.

"Hagrid!" they called.

"What'd ya' think yer doin' Filch?" Hagrid asked stepping past them and staring down at Filch.

"My job you big oaf!" Filch said through his clenched teeth. "I caught these kids here strutting down the halls when they should be in class!"

Hagrid turned to look at the five. "They look like first year Filch, they probably got lost on the way to class."

"First years?" James said in an offended tone.

"I'll take them Filch, go run around somewheres else!"

Filch gave them a final look of disapproval, then went around the corner.

"Thanks Hagrid." Rose said. "We owe you one."

"Filch can be a bit of an old blunder," Hagrid said. "But you really should get ter class, I'll help yer find it if yer like."

"What class?" James cried out in frustration. "It's Christmas break?"

Hagrid gave him a weird look. "Christmas break ain't till December."

"Which it is!"

Hagrid shook his head. "It's November. Are you sure you're alright?"

"We're fine," Albus said. "Are you okay? Because we're sure it's December. We just left yesterday to go home for Christmas. You saw us, you told us to say hi to mum and dad for you."

"Don't know what's wrong with yer, but I'm positive it's November. Now yer better hurry up and get ter where yer need ter be before Filch sees yers again."

He gave them another wary look, and then left in the same direction as Filch did.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Lily in a scared voice.

"He must have drunk too much," Rose said. "I mean, how else can he think it's November?"

A bell sounded.

"Why are the bells still going off?" Albus inquired.

"Guess someone forgot to take the charm off it," Rose said.

But seconds after the bell rang, the corridor was suddenly filled with students, bumping into them.

"Blimey, how many people stay here during break?" James asked, looking around at the flood of students.

"I'm starting to get worried," Rose said. "I don't think something's right."

"Hey look!" Albus pointed towards an open door, which Professor McGonagall was standing by.

"Oh thank goodness," Rose said in relief.

"Professor McGonagall," James said, running up to her. "We need help."

Professor McGonagall gave James a severe look. None of them found this odd though, after all, she was famous for that face.

"What sort of help do you require?" she asked. "I have a class to teach!"

"You teach a class?" James questioned in surprise. "But this is the transfiguration room. Professor Gippop teaches here."

"Yah, and there's no classes anyways," Rose said.

"Who's this Professor Gippop?" asked McGonagall sharply. "I've taught this position for many years! And as for no classes, I'm afraid you're terribly mistaken."

"But-" began Albus.

"What are your names?" she asked curiously. "I've never seen you before."

"I'm James." Said James slowly. "You know, the one that gets sent to your office everyday."

"Yah, and I'm Albus," Albus stated. "And this is Rose," he indicated Rose

"I don't know what kind of practical joke you're trying to pull, but I assure you, I don't find it amusing."

"Joke? There's no joke professor," Rose said in an assuring voice. "You see, we accidentally got sent here. We're supposed to be home for Christmas."

"Well then you can go home when December comes," McGonagall said briskly. "Now if you don't mind, my class is ready to begin."

And with that, she closed the classroom door in their face.

"Alright, something really weird is going on," Albus said to James. "I mean, she didn't even know us!"

"Neither did Hagrid or the fat lady," added Rose.

"Hey," Lily called over from a suit of armor not far away. "Come over here. Fast. It's important!"

Rose, James and Albus all rushed over to where Lily and Hugo were.

"What," asked James.

"It's dad," Lily, pointing at a boy with jet black hair about twenty feet away.

"And that's mom," Hugo said to Rose, referring to the girl he was talking to with bushy hair.

"That can't be mom and uncle Harry," Rose said in a shocked whisper. "They don't look much older then 16."

"Wait a minute," said James, scrunching up his face, showing that he was in deep thought. "I know it may sound crazy, but it's the only thing that makes sense."

"What?" Hugo asked Albus eagerly.

"We must have went back in time."

Rose gave a gasp. "Of course! That thing James set off before must have been a Portural Revinsive!"

"A what?" James, Lily, Albus, and Hugo all asked.

"It's a device that takes whoever uses it to another timeframe." She explained.

"We must be in our parents school days"


	3. Complications

"I can't believe this," James moaned

"I can't believe this," James moaned. "How're we going to get back now? We'll be stuck in here forever!"

"Calm down," Rose said. "There's a potion that you can make that if drank, it will reverse the effects of the Portural Revinsive, sending us back to our time."

"Any idea on how to make it?" Albus asked.

"Well no," she admitted. "I only saw it looking through Victorie's Potions book. It looked very complex."

"How helpful," James said sarcastically.

"Do you think we should talk to them?" Albus asked as he continued to stare at Harry and Hermione.

"Are you mad Al?" James demanded. "Let's just waltz right up to them and say, 'hello, by the way, we're your children!'"

"Like you have any better ideas?"

"Yah I do! Why don't you go and shove a-"

"Oh don't fight you two," Rose whispered. She then peered down the hall where Harry and Hermione were.

"I think Albus is right James," she said. "My mum was supposed to the brightest witch of her year. She might know how to make the potion."

"Well, you'll get your chance, because they're coming!" Hugo said.

And he was right. Harry and Hermione were walking their way.

"Okay, let me do the talking," Rose said to James and Albus.

"He's at perfect liberty to do what he wants," came Hermione's voice as her and Harry drew closer.

"Okay, here I go," Rose said. "Excuse me?"

"Why aren't you in class?" Hermione asked Rose as she came up to them. "Only the sixth years are on break right now."

"Well, you see," Rose continued, searching for the right words to explain what she needed to say. "I'm-"

"There's absolutely no reason for you to be out here," Hermione said firmly. "So unless you want me to give you a detention, I suggest you get to class."

And with that, her and Harry continued down the corridor.

"Brilliant plan Rose," James said, watching the two of them turn down another hallway. "You nearly got a detention from your mum."

"Oh shut up!"

"I wonder where Uncle Ron was," Lily said. "I thought him and dad were best mates."

"I dunno, probably back in the common room," Rose said absentmindedly. "But we really do need their help."

"But we've just tried that, and you saw where it got us," Albus told her.

"Maybe if we tried during lunch," Rose said thoughtfully. "Then they wouldn't have any excuse not to talk to us."

For the remainder of lessons that hour, the five of them hid out in an abandoned broom cupboard, discussing what exactly they would say to their 16 year old parents.

"We should probably introduce ourselves first," instructed Rose. "To be polite. Then we just need to come right out and say what happened. No beating around the bush."

"Do we really have to tell them who we are?" James asked her for the tenth time. "Can't we just say we're from the future and leave it at that?"

"No. They'll be more willing to help us if they know who we are. Besides Al looks so much like Uncle Harry, and Hugo like mum, they'll figure it out eventually."

"I guess."

"This is just too weird." Lily said, leaning against James, who put his arm around her.

"I know," Hugo agreed.

A bell rang once again, and the sounds of students heading into the Great Hall were heard.

"Guess we'd better go," Albus said, opening the door and stepping out to join the crowd.

"I see them," Lily said excitedly as they walked into the Great Hall. "Or at least dad and Uncle Ron."

"Darn, we need to tell all of them at the same time," Rose said exasperatedly. "I had this all worked out in my head!"

"Relax Rose," James said. "I'm sure Aunt Hermione will be with them any second."

"Yah, here she comes now."

Hermione walked quickly to the Gryffindor table, but didn't even look at Harry and Ron. She sat down next to a girl with flaming red hair.

"Hey that's mum!" Albus pointed out.

"Why isn't she with dad?" Lily asked. "I thought she and dad said they started going out in the sixth year."

"Don't forget it's still early in the year." Rose told her. "They'll probably get together sometime after Christmas."

"But mum, dad and Uncle Harry were all best friends at school," Hugo put in. "And it doesn't even look like she notices them."

Rose shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm hungry," James said suddenly. "Let's eat."

"We just ate," Rose hissed at him. "You're such a pig!"

But she followed him the table anyways. The only spots that were empty were right across from Harry and Ron.

"This is going to be so awkward," Albus whispered to Hugo, who nodded in agreement.

"But if he somehow got it in without someone knowing," Harry whispered to Ron. "Then he'd have a clear field of who to give it to."

"But why Katie?" Ron asked as the five arrived at the table, and him and Harry fell silent at once.

"Um, Hello," Ron said looking at the 5 new additions to the table, completely unaware that two were his own children.

"Hey, you're the ones Hermione was telling to get back to your classes," Harry said, remembering the previous hour.

"Um, right," Albus said, trying to avoid his father's eyes, which were so similar to his.

"First years are you?" Ron asked Lily.

She opened her mouth to try to respond, but closed it.

"I'm a second year," James said proudly, grabbing a chicken wing from the platter beside him.

"Right well, nice meeting you," Harry said, getting up.

"Yah," Ron said, standing up too.

"Don't seem too keen to talk," James said, biting into his second chicken.

"Well, I don't imagine sixth years usually talk to younger students that often unless they're brothers or sisters," Rose said.

"Ummm, guys," Albus said, looking over at the girls. "Who's that with mum?"

They all directed their attention to a tall, dark boy giving Ginny a hug.

"Bloody hell," James said in awe, dropping his food and spilling his pumpkin juice. Ginny and the boy walked out of the Hall, holding hands and talking with big smiles on their face.

"She's cheating on dad!" James said in outrage.

"Shhhh, someone might here you!" whispered Rose. "Besides, they're probably not even together yet."

"So?" whispered back James.

"Mum's leaving," Hugo said, trying to stop an argument. "Maybe we can finally talk to them all now."

"But they probably all went back to the common room, and the Fat Lady wont let us in." Rose moaned. "This is getting harder and harder by second."

No one said anything for awhile, but then Lily said, in a scared voice, "Will we ever get back home?"

"Course we will Lils," James said, patting his little sister gently on her back. He had a real soft spot for her.

"Let's go to the library," Rose said. "We can read up on the Portural Revinsive and see if there's any other way to get back home."

With a sigh of reluctant agreement, James, Albus, Lily and Hugo hastily got up and went into the library. At the Hogwarts they knew, the librarian was a kindly young woman, who would joke with students and help them when they had difficult projects. Madam Pince looked like she would bite anyone who asked her to assist them in homework. She snapped at them as they came in, because Albus made a comment about a suit of armor right next to the library.

"She's a downright grouch," Hugo said as Madam Pince hurried away to yell at a girl who was chewing gum while reading a book.

Rose, who had drifted off to find the book they needed, came back to the group, at least eight books under her arms.

"I thought you were getting A book," Albus said as she set the pile down on a nearby table.

"I guess the one Victorie has hasn't been published yet," Rose said, opening a book titled _Past, Present and Future. A complete guide to the art of tome travel._

Lily and Hugo sat down at the table, but James nudged Albus in the side, and pointed at a table a couple of feet from theirs. Harry and Hermione were seated at it, books sprawled out all around them.

"But I suppose he could of always bought it at Hogsmade, then given it to her," Harry said thoughtfully, as Hermione scribbled down something on a sheet of parchment. "I wish you'd give this whole Malfoy thing a rest Harry," she said impatiently.

"Hermione, I know he's up to something!"

"Anyone could've given Katie the necklace," Hermione said.

"Look, I bet that's Scorpius's dad," James said, indicating a pale faced boy who just entered the library. He quickly ducked out of sight, and snuck over to where the five of them were.

James and Albus grabbed a book out of the pile, and watched Malfoy out if the corners of their eyes.

He seemed to be watching Harry and Hermione intently.

"Filch isn't exactly good with magic," they heard Harry say. "It'd be easy to get something past him."

Madam Pince seemed to have decided the two were being too loud, because she came at them, telling them to get out.

Malfoy looked like he was thinking hard about something, his eyes were closed tightly, and his lips were moving like he was talking to himself. Finally, he turned and left the library.

"Find anything yet," Albus asked, closing his book shut in defeat.

"Yes," Rose said. The other four gathered around her. "It says here that the potion takes 29 days to complete. There's no other way to get us back to our time."

"Well, that's just great," James said, closing his book as well. "We won't be missed at all at home. No one will even know we're gone."

"Actually, as long as they stay at the party until at least midnight, they won't."

"Huh?"

Rose pushed the book over to him. "Look, it says here that the time in the time we left, slows down. It's estimated that one day here is actually equivalent to about 5 minutes back home."

"But we still have the issue of how we're going to make the potion," Albus put in.

Rose rested her hand on her head. "I know. There's absolutely no way we can make a potion like this without help. I don't even know what half the ingredients are."

"Wow, first time for everything," Hugo whispered to Lily, earning him a harsh stare from his sister.

"Well, no use staying around here," James said getting up.

"Where do you think your going?" Rose asked him sternly.

"To find my dad. If he's the same as he is in our time, I should be able to talk him into anything."

"You cannot," Lily objected.

"Oh that's right," James said smacking his head with his hand. "That's grandpa. I got them mixed up."

"I'm the one who can get anything from dad," Lily said.

"She does have a point," Albus agreed. Lily beamed.

"Well, alright." Rose said skeptically. "You and James can go find Uncle Harry. Better yet, maybe you'll catch him with everyone. But don't tell him anything until we get there."

"What're we supposed to do?" Albus asked.

"We're going to do some more research on the Portural Revinsive."

Him and Hugo groaned. "What more do we have to know?"

"Lots. Like if our memory is effected at all by it, if we have to do anything else besides drink the potion, if we-"

"Okay, okay, we get the picture,"

"Good."

"Well, you three have fun then," James said brightly. "Come on Lily, let go do the important part. Kidding," He added at Rose's death stare.

So him and Lily set off, leaving the other three in the library.

"Where do you reckon we should try first?" Lily asked her brother.

"Dunno, guess our best bet is to wait by the Fat Lady until-"

He stopped right in the middle of the corridor.

"What?" Lily asked, bumping into him.

"Look!" He pointed to an open broom closet, much like the one they were in before. However, this one contained Ron Weasly and some girl neither of them recognized, sucking face like there was no tomorrow.

AN- Oh, this story is a lot harder to write than I thought… I hope you liked it though. Reviews Please!


	4. Meeting the rents

"Who the bloody hell is that

AN- IMPORTANT- Just so everyone knows, I'm writing this story as if the kids have no clue what they're parents went through at school, or of Voldemort, or anything else they did. I'm not positive if this is how J.K Rowling intended it to be, but that's what I got from the epilogue.

"Who the bloody hell is that?"

Lily shrugged.

"Rose and Hugo aren't gonna be too happy about this," James said.

"How long can they go for?" Lily asked, as Ron continued to suck face with the girl.

"I don't want to find out," James said, moving his little sister along.

When they arrived at the corridor where the Fat Lady was, James and Lily waited, out of view of the Fat Lady, until somebody came out.

"Hey, who's he?" Lily said as a boy stumbled out of the Portrait. "He looks really familiar…"

"It's Professor Longbottom!"

"Neville?"

"Yah, shh."

Neville was heading towards them, but tripped over his unlaced shoe, and fell, spilling the entire contents of his bag.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, walking over to him to help.

"I think so. Thanks."

James gathered up some of the books.

"Here Professor," he said, handing them to him.

"Why did you just call me Professor?" Neville asked curiously.

"Um…"

"Why'd you call me Professor?" he repeated.

"It was an… accident."

Neville still looked wary. James suddenly got an idea.

"It's just that, I've heard your so good in Herbology, I consider you to be on a Professor's level. In fact, Lily and I were just on our way to the library to finish up our Herbology homework. If your not doing anything, would you mind helping us?"

Neville's face lit up at being addressed on such high terms. Meanwhile, behind him, Lily mouthed to James, "What are you doing?"

"I'm not busy at all," Neville said. "I'd love to help you."

"Great," James said, giving Neville the rest of the books he picked up.

With Lily giving James scrutinizing looks, the three made their way back down to the library.

"You're back early," Rose said, as she saw James enter the library. "Thought you'd be gone at least an hour. Did you-"

She stopped at the sight of Neville.

"Oh hi guys," James said, leading Neville over to the table. "Didn't know you'd be here."

"What'd you mean? Where else would-"

James gave him a vicious stare, and catching on, Albus shut up.

"You all need help in Herbology?' asked Neville brightly.

"Well, truthfully, we don't need help in Herbology," James admitted.

Rose, who saw what James was doing, spoke up and said, "But we do need your help."

Neville looked nervous. "I dunno, I'm not good at anything else. I can do Defense Against the Dark Arts, but you should really talk to Harry if you want to learn a lot."

The five exchanged glances. "We need to tell you something,"

"Um, alright, I don't know you very well though."

"But we know you. I'm Rose Weasly. This is my little brother Hugo, and our cousins, James, Albus, and Lily Potter."

"Weasly? Are you related to Ron?"

"Yes, he's my-"

But before he could finish, he turned to Albus, "I know you can't be related to Harry Potter, though you do look like him a lot, he doesn't have any family except for his aunt and uncle, but are you a descendant of Dumbledore's, you know, since you have his name?"

"Actually," Rose cut in. "He IS a relative of Harry Potter. We all are, though me and Hugo technically aren't blood relatives of him, he's still our Uncle…."

"Harry's your Uncle, that's impossible!"

"He's our dad," Lily said.

"YOUR WHAT!"

Madam Pince swooped in, "Shhhhhh! This. Is. A. LIBRARY!"

"Sorry," mumbled Neville. He waited until she was out of earshot, then said, "Follow me, I know a place where we can talk in private."

He led them through halls, and up many flights of stairs before they reached a deserted corridor.

"In here," he gestured for them to go in a small deserted classroom.

After they all entered, Neville locked the door, and faced them. "Now, what do you mean Harry's your dad? He's 16. And you look like your at least 10. It's impossible…"

"But see, we're from the future," Rose said gently.

"The future?"

"Yes, we accidentally came here because James activated a Portural Revinsive."

"A what?"

"A device that takes the users back to another time frame."

Neville had a look of utter confusion on his face. "So, you're not even born in this time?"

They shook their heads. "Blimey. How long have you been here?"

"A couple of hours," James said.

"And we really have to get back to our time, but we need a potion made. It's really complicated to make and-"

"Sorry, can't help you there. My potion making is horrendous."

"We know. You've told us," Hugo said.

"I did?"

"Did we mention we know you in the future?"

"NO!"

"Well, we've known you pretty much our whole lives. You're a good friend of the family."

"And, you're the Herbology teacher at Hogwarts," Albus added.

"Me? A professor?" Neville asked in surprise.

"And head of Gryffindor."

Neville got a dreamy look in his face. So he would amount to something after all…

"Anyways," Rose continued. "We need you to help us get our parents together. We've been trying, but we can't get in the common room, and our parents are always separated."

"Or snogging in broom cupboards," James said under his breath, but Rose heard him.

"What?"

"I saw your dad attacking some girls face when me and Lily found Neville. It was really quite disgusting."

"What girl? Mum?"

"No. Deffinatly not Aunt Hermione."

"Hermione's your Aunt?" Neville asked James.

"Yah. And our Uncle's name is Ron."

"Whoa, Hermione and Ron end up married? Weird."

"What's so weird about that?" Rose questioned. "They said they were friends in school."

"They are, except it's usually more of a fighting relationship than a love one. They're not even speaking right now."

"Really? Why?"

He shrugged. "Harry keeps trying to get them to talk, but it isn't working."

"Well, that complicates things a bit," James said.

"I'm sure we can still get them together," Rose said, though not looking so sure of herself.

"How exactly?"

"Well…" Her face suddenly lit up. "If Neville could bring Uncle Harry and dad, and we bring mum, then we can just sit them down and talk to them."

"We need our mum too," Lily said.

"Yah, and dad and Uncle Ron might come with Neville, but Hermione won't come with us. We've already tried talking to her, and she wont listen to us."

"She was in a rush before," Hugo reminded him. "I'm sure she'll listen if she's not busy."

"I guess."

"So you'll help us Neville?"

"I dunno, this is all really weird. And with the war going on and everything…"

"Wait, what war?" asked Albus.

"You don't know? Your Harry Potters son!"

"So? What's that have to do with the war?"

Neville was quiet for a bit, then said, "They must've not told you."

"Told us what?"

He shook his head. "If they choose not to tell you, then I have no business telling you."

"But-"

"I'll help you," Neville said sternly. "But I am NOT going to tell you anymore then you need to know. If Harry and them tell you fine, but seeing as you're not my kids, I can't."

James opened his mouth to argue, but Rose cut him off. "Alright. Thanks so much Neville."

Neville looked at his watch. "I have to get to class. Break's nearly done. Meet me back here at 8."

"We don't exactly have anywhere else to go," James mumbled.

"Thank you so much for believing us," Rose said gratefully. "I know it must have been hard to accept that we're from the future and all-"

Neville gave them a friendly smile and said, "Albus looks so much like Harry, and Hugo like Hermione. You're obviously not lying. It's undeniable now that I look at you." And with that, he left the room.

"I want to know what he's not telling us," James said at once.

"So do I, but our main focus right now is getting back to our time. We can ask our parents about this later. We'll say we came across it in a book," Rose said.

"Think they'll tell us?"

"Well if they don't we can REALLY look it up. If it's as big as Neville made it out to be, it has to be recorded somewhere."

They heard the door handle rattle, "Blasted door is locked, hold on."

"Hide," Albus mouthed. Fortunately, there was a desk in the front of the classroom, so they all ducked out of sight behind it, just before the voice said, "Alohomora."

"Don't see why you wanted to talk to me," came another voice, sounding angry.

"If the best you can come up with is a necklace Draco, I'm afraid the Dark Lord will be most unpleased with your work." The first, cool oily voice said.

"So I had one mishap. Big deal."

"I'm not sure the Dark Lord will see it that way."

"I don't need you. I'm doing fine on my own Snape!"

Albus's stomach gave a lurch. His father said he was named after a person named Professor Snape… Could this be the 'bravest man' his dad told him about?

"That's Professor Snape."

"Whatever."

They heard the door slam, leaving only the one man, Snape, in the room.

"Dumbledore will have my head for this," he said under his breath. Then the door closed once more.

No one dared move for nearly ten minutes, before James finally stuck his head around the edge of the desk, announcing the coast was clear.

"What was that all about?" Hugo asked.

"I don't know. But it didn't sound good," Rose replied.

"Was the Snape dad said was one of the bravest men he ever knew?" Albus asked nervously, still not sure why his father would name him after such a person.

"Obviously not. That man sounded horrible."

Maybe he was right. But Albus couldn't help feeling unsure. After all, Snape wasn't a common name was it?

If seemed like days instead of hours before Neville finally returned.

"I just saw Harry and Ron in the library," he said as soon as he came in. "And Hermione was only a few tables down."

"What about our mum?" Lily asked. "She needs to be there too."

"Who is your mum?" Neville asked curiously.

"Ginny. She's Uncle Ron's little sister."

Neville's eyes widened a bit. "Oh, I suppose that still works then, because she's in the library too. With Dean though."

"Well," Rose said. "I reckon we better get it over with now. The sooner we tell them, the sooner we get back home."

They all agreed.

No one spoke on the way back down to the library. It was a nerve wrecking task, talking to young versions of your parents, who had no idea who you were that you are they're kids.

Neville gave the kids a nod, and went over with Harry and Ron. Hugo and Rose went over to Hermione, and James, Albus and Lily, to Ginny.

"Hello," Rose said as she reached Hermione's table.

Hermione looked up. "Hello."

"Can we talk to you?" Hugo blurted out.

"Um… Okay. What about?"

"We can't tell you here. We have to tell you over there. With them," Rose explained, pointing over to Ron, Harry and Neville.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere near Ron. If you have to talk to me, you can do it right here."

"Please," Rose begged. "It's really, really important. You don't have to even talk to Ron. Ignore him. Please."

Hermione thought about this for a minute. "Oh alright. But it better be quick. I have loads of studying to do."

Meanwhile, over at Ginny's table, James, Albus and Lily trying to persuade her to come over to Harry and Ron's table as well.

"I don't even know you three," she said.

"We'll tell you over at the table," said Albus. "Just please come with us."

Ginny looked over at Dean, who James was shooting a dirty look to. "I'll be back in a minute,"

"Looks like Hugo and Rose were successful," Lily whispered, as they saw their cousins lead Hermione to the table.

"What's going on here?" Ron demanded as everyone came to a stop around him and Harry.

Hermione merely gave Ron a reproachful look, and turned away from him, but Ginny pointed at Lily, Albus and James and said, "They told me they had something important to tell me, but they couldn't do it unless I was with you."

"Same here," Hermione said, still not looking at Ron.

"What about you Neville?" questioned Harry. "Same story?"

Neville stared at the ground. "Just listen to them guys, it actually is really urgent. " He stood up. "I'll let you five get on with it then." And with that, he left the library, leaving the other four desperately befuddled.

"What do you have to talk to us about?" Ginny asked. "I really have to get back over to Dean."

Albus noticed his father shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"Do you know what a Portural Revinsive is, first of all?" Rose said finally, getting straight to the point.

Harry, Ron and Ginny shook their heads, but to nobody's surprise Hermione replied, "Yes, it's a magical object that transports the person or persons who activated it to another time frame."

"Yah, and well," Rose looked at the others who were standing next to them. James signaled for her to go on.

"Well we've gone and set one off. Well, not US, just James there, but we all suffered the effects."

"Can't let that go can you Rose," James said.

"So wait. You're from a different time?" Harry asked, his face full of puzzlement.

"Yes."

"But why would you tell us that?" asked Ron. "Why us of all people?"

Rose was quiet for a few moments, and them at long last said, "Because you are our parents in our time."


	5. Love and questions

AN- Thanks so much for your reviews guys! I hope you like this chapter 

"What?" Ginny said in shock.

"Impossible," Ron said.

"I don't know, that one there looks a lot like Hermione." Harry said thoughtfully.

"And he looks like Harry," Hermione said. "But he has brown eyes instead of green."

"Yah, I have my mums eyes," Albus told them. "Everyone says that."

"I still don't believe them," Ron scuffed. "Just because they look like us doesn't mean they're our kids."

"Wait a minute," Rose said, rummaging through her pockets. "I have something here that should prove it."

She pulled out a silver chain with a small locket on it. "You gave this to me for Christmas when I was six, the lock is broken, so I can't wear it until it gets fixed, but look inside it."

Ron took the locket and opened it up. Inside it was a tiny picture of a little Rose sitting on an older version of Ron's lap.

"Blimey," said Ginny looking over his shoulder. She's right!"

Ron was silent, and then he finally said, "I suppose she's my other daughter too, she has red hair and all."

"What Lily? No she's my cousin though. Hugo is your son."

"I thought he was Hermione's son." Said Ron in a confused voice.

"He is."

Ron turned bright Red. "Hermione's my-"

"You have got to be joking!" Hermione yelled, standing up.

"Hermione, shhh, Madam Pince will come and kick us out!" Ginny warned.

"Hang on, I got it," Harry said pulling out his wand. "Muffiato."

"If you expect me to believe that I marry the arrogant, stuck up, selfish, stupid, idiot, you have another thought coming!"

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but her mother cut her off. "This is all probably just some joke they think is funny. I'll buy that they're from the future, but there is no way I would ever, ever marry someone like Ron."

She huffed back over to her table with her books, crammed them all in her bag, and headed out of the library without giving them another glance.

"I think I know where you get your temper Rosie," James said.

"Wait," Ginny said slowly. "If Ron and Hermione end up married, that must mean that Harry and I…"

She looked over at him.

It was Harry's turn to look embarrassed, but Albus saw a glowing tint in his eyes.

Ron who had been looking at the floor with a pained expression, jerked his head back up. "Are you serious?"

"It's true," Lily said. "They're our parents," she said, pointing to James and Albus.

Ginny continued to stare at Harry, and Ron still looked surprised.

"Anyways," Rose said, finally recovering from her mum's abrupt departure. "We need to get back to our time, and we need to have a certain potion in order to do so."

"What kind?"

"The potion is called Revictero It's extremely complicated to make, plus it takes 29 days to complete."

"Well," Ron said, his voice a bit high from the discovery of finding out he had two kids and his best friend married his little sister, "Harry's gotten good at potions this year, why don't you check and see if the Prince has any directions for the potion."

"Huh?" Harry said, who had been trying to avoid Ginny's eyes. "Oh yah, the Prince."

"Who's this Prince?" Ginny asked softly. Harry recognized this voice; Ginny used it a lot when talking to him up until last year.

"Just someone who wrote in my potion book," he replied still looking anywhere but at her.

He flipped through the pages until he came across the instructions for the Revictero potion.

"Look's like we'll be having another Polyjuice Potion incident then," Ron said. "Joy."

"Do you think you can make it?" Albus asked his father. Harry shrugged.

"He didn't make any revisions on this one, so we'd have to follow the directions straight out of the book, which will be tricky."

"We need Hermione," Ginny sighed.

"Listen, I think you might be mistaken about me and Hermione," Ron said to Rose and Hugo.

"We know who our parents are," Rose said firmly. "I even showed you that picture."

"I know, I believe you're my kids, but maybe, I dunno, I'm married to another girl named Hermione."

"Yes, because it's such a common name," James said sarcastically.

"I'm serious. Hermione's probably going to marry Victor Krum or someone," Ron said, though his face fell at this, and he added quietly, "She won't even look at me."

"Who's Victor Krum?" Lily asked Ginny.

"He's the Seeker for Bulgaria. Him and Hermione went to a dance together two years ago."

"Yah, and did who knows what afterwards."

"Ron, is this all because I said Hermione snogged with Hermione." Ginny asked

"Did she or not?"

"I was just saying that to make a point."

"Ginny! Yes or no."

"She did, once only. And she said it wasn't even that good."

"But she still did it, right?"

"Are you jealous Ron?"

"No!"

"Do you think we can talk Aunt Hermione into helping us?" James asked.

"I dunno, she seemed pretty bitten off about me being her husband, and we're not exactly on speaking terms right now." Ron said.

"If you broke up with Lavender, I guarantee she'll be friendly with you again," said Ginny. "It's not as though you even like her, your just using her."

"I guess. And speaking of which, when are you going to break it off with Dean?"

Harry looked over at Dean, by himself at the table, and felt a surge of triumph over him.

"What'd you mean?"

"Well you obviously end up with Harry, how that happened I have no clue, but why would you waste your time with Dean if you know it won't work out?"

"I- I guess I'll handle that later," she stammered. "Right now shouldn't we focus on getting these five back to whatever year they're from?"

"She's right Ron," Harry spoke up. "So go find Lavender and end it, so Hermione can help us make this potion."

"But how do I break up with someone?" Ron asked in a panicky tone. "You haven't done it have you? You and Cho just sort of broke off."

"Cho?" Lily questioned, but nobody seemed to hear her.

"Just go say you don't think your right for her. She'll be mad for a bit, but then get over it." Ginny instructed him.

"Alright, where is she?"

"Probably in the common room,"

"The Fat Lady won't let us in," Rose told them. "She only lets in people she knows as Gryffindors."

"Here," Harry said, pulling a cloak out from his bag. "Get under there."

"Awesome, the Invisibility Cloak," James whispered.

"You know about it?"

"Yah, you gave it to me when I turned 11."

"They won't all fit under there," Ron said.

"I have an idea," James said. "Hugo, get on my back, Lily go on Albus's"

Making sure no one was watching them, Harry threw the cloak over them, and grabbed his bag. Ginny ran over to her table with Dean, grabbed her bag and told her she would talk to him later, and followed them out of the library.

"Password?" asked the Fat Lady as the group arrived.

"Tapeworm," Ginny said, and the portrait swung open. Harry and Ron tried to help the kids over as much as they could with out attracting too much attention, but James and Albus still had difficulty.

Surprisingly, the common room was empty, except for Lavender, Pavarti and Neville.  
"Won Won!" squealed Lavender as she ran over to Ron and draped herself around him.

"Er, hi Lavender," he said uncomfortably. Ginny shot him a stare. "Can-can we talk?"

"About what Ronny?"

"Um, you see, I thinkweshouldseeotherpeople," he said very quickly.

"What'd you say? You were talking too fast Ronikins."

"Lavender, I think we, need to, um what I'm trying to say exactly is- well I don't like you like you like me. There, I said it."

Lavender was blinking back tears. "What?"

"I er, don't think we're right for each-"

"It's that Hermione girl isn't it!" she said furiously.

"Lavender, calm down," Pavarti said, coming over to her friend's side.

"How dare you Ronald Weasly!" she shrieked. "You good for nothing jerk!"

She aimed a kick at Ron's leg, but missed and sent a stack of books flying.

"Lavender!" Pavarti said desperately trying to hold her back as she advanced on Ron.

"He thinks that it's no big deal to just leave me for some bushy haired brainy know-it-all!"

"Hey, she's not a know-it-all," Ron said indignantly.

"You know what Ron, you'll be crawling back to me by the end of the week, mark my words!"

She spun around and marched back to the girls dormitory, passing Hermione who she nearly trampled as she went up the stairs.

"Sorry about her," Pavarti said, picking up the books Lavender had knocked down. "I'd better see if she's okay."

She gave them a weak smile and went up to the dormitory.

"What was going on down here?" Hermione asked, coming towards them. "I could here Lavender all the way from the dorms."

"We ended it," Ron said, looking directly at her.

"You did?" Hermione asked, her face lighting up. "Oh, um, I'm sorry about that Ron."

"Don't be," he told her. "She was getting on my nerves from the beginning."

Hermione laughed.

"I think I'll go up to bed," Neville said, shutting his book. "See you in the morning."

"Wait, Neville," Harry stopped him. "Do you know about them?" He pointed to the know visible James, Hugo, Albus, Rose and Lily.

"You mean that they're your, um kids?" he whispered.

"Yes."

He nodded. "I met them outside the Fat Lady this afternoon, and they told me everything. Apparently I'm a Professor in the future."

"No way," Ron said.

"He is," Rose defended. "He's one of the best. He's even head of Gryffindor."

"Well, suppose that's not the weirdest thing we've heard today," said Ron, sinking into an armchair.

"Suppose it isn't. Well, G"night." And he disappeared up the staircase.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Hermione said at once. "It was just odd finding out Ron and I wind up married."

"What's odd about that?" Ron demanded.

"I don't know, I guess the fact that we always argue. And then you were with Lavender…"

"You were with Krum!"

"Years ago!"

"Still, you were, and evidently you liked it, seeing as you kissed him!"

"Well you kissed Lavender practically 24/7, are you saying you were in love with her?"

"No, but you admitted you liked Krum at some point!"

"Well obviously. And you had to like Lavender at some point or you two would've never been together in the first place."

"Oh please, I was only with her to make you jealous!" His eyes grew wide and he instantly became many shades darker than his flaming red hair, and looked around at everyone staring at him.

"You wanted to make me jealous?" Hermione questioned in a small, teary voice.

"Yes," Ron said in a barely audible whisper. "I wanted to get you to like me."

"Oh Ron," Hermione said, bursting into tears.

"Don't cry," Ron said in a worried tone. "I understand if you don't-"

"Of course I like you!" She pulled him into a kiss, getting many gags from their kids.

Harry and Ginny smiled.

"It's about time those two got together," Ginny said as Hermione and Ron continued to kiss. They seemed to have forgotten the others in the room.

"Yah," Harry responded distantly, then said bravely, "So, we end up married huh?"

She looked into his eyes and said, "I remember when I was younger, I would always think about marrying Harry Potter, but it was only a dream. But then Hermione said that I was just wasting my time dwelling on you, since you only seemed to like me as a friend-"

Harry had just locked lips with her, kissing her at long last.

Ginny felt sparks, like she had never felt kissing Dean or Michael.

"Disgusting," James said, looking back and forth between to two couples. "Absolutely putrid."

"You said it," Hugo agreed.

Hermione and Ron finally broke apart, and Ron spotting Harry and his sister yelled; "You two coming up for air anytime soon?"

"You're awful Ron," Ginny said as her and Harry pulled apart. "Honestly, no one interrupted you." Then she smacked herself on the forehead. "Shoot, I completely forgot that I left Dean waiting in the library. Don't worry," she added at Harry's hurt stare. "I'm breaking up with him."

She gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek, and left out the Portrait.

"So," Rose said awkwardly, to remind them that they were still here. "Are you going to help us with the potion so we can get home?"

"The Prince doesn't have instructions for it Hermione," Harry said grinning. "So you're back to being the best potion maker"

Hermione looked very satisfied. "Well, Mertyl won't be happy to see us back, but I guess we can manage."

The entrance opened, and a very angry Dean stormed in. Without even noticing the kids or Harry, Ron and Hermione, he headed straight for the boys stairwell and climbed up.

"He didn't take it very well," Ginny explained as she came in. "But he'll be alright."

"Hermione agreed to fix the potion," Ron announced to her, putting his arm around Hermione.

"Excellent, then they can get home back to their time."

"What're we supposed to do in the meantime?" Lily asked. "Just hide out in old classrooms and broom cupboards like we did today?"

"The common room should be empty during lessons, Hermione said. "And everyone spends their breaks either in the library or on the grounds. As long as you're hidden before six when lessons end, you should be safe."

"I've just noticed this," Rose said suddenly. She had the book she found the potion in earlier that day open.

"What?" Ron asked her.

"It says here that once the users of the Portual Rensive return to their time, any events that took place during their visit will be erased, leaving everyone they came in contact with, without any memory of them."

"So that means," Harry said slowly. "We won't remember any of this?" He glanced longingly at Ginny, and Ron pulled Hermione closer.

"I don't think it matters," Hermione said. "After all, we're together in the future, so everything must've worked out."

"True, but after they go, I'll be back with Lavender," Ron said glumly.

"And me with Dean," Ginny sighed.

"We'd better make the best of the time we have then," Hermione said.

Neither Hermione or Harry would be welcome back into their dorms, seeing as they were now dating one of their roommate's ex. Hermione sent Ginny up to her dorm to get her books and a pillow, and Ron did the same for Harry.

"You lot stay behind here," Ginny instructed the kids as she made a bed of sheets and pillows behind a large sofa. "No one should be able to see you unless they actually walk over here, but that's unlikely, seeing as it'll be early morning."

Nobody got much sleep that night, as the fact that their kids were now with them at Hogwarts was still fresh in their minds.

By the time students started coming down to the common room, the four were already dressed and Hermione was studying the potions recipe, as to see what supplies they would be needing.

"It'll be much easier taking ingredients this time then with the polyjuice potion," she said brightly. "Slughorn would probably hand us everything if we asked him for it."

"Still, we'd better sneak it," said Ginny. "Just to be sure this stays a secret."

As the common room finally cleared of all tired students, the four went behind the sofa let the kids know they were leaving.

"Well bring you whatever we can from breakfast right after Charms," Hermione told them, as Ginny tried to wake a still sleeping James. "Make sure you stay in here. If for any reason somebody comes in here, tell them your first years."

"I am NOT a first year," James mumbled, burying his head in his pillow.

"Well, then say you're a second year," Hermione said. "Just read something in the meantime."

"Read? It's break for us!"

"Then play chess!" she said exasperatedly.

"Wow, Uncle Ron was right when he told us you were touchy in school,"

Hermione shot Ron a death glare. "I'm touchy because certain people, like Ronald, make me that way."

"How have I made you touchy?"

"Oh, you know. You always-"

"Hang on a second," Harry said, cutting the two off. "I've just realized something."

"What?" Ginny asked.

"If I'm married and have kids in the future, then obviously…"

Hermione gasped and clamped her hands to her mouth. "We win the war! You must have killed Voldemort!"

"We have to tell Dumbledore this!" Harry said. "They can tell him how the war ended, and we can use that way to do it sooner and-"

"What war?" Albus asked.

"What'd you mean what war? The one going on right now with Voldemort," Ron said. "The one where evidently, you father kills the most infamous wizard of all time!"

"Who?" Lily asked.

The four stared at the kids. "Don't you know anything about the war, or Voldemort, or the Death Eaters?" Harry questioned.

They all shook their heads.

"But how can they not know?" Ginny asked in a puzzled tone. "I mean, with Harry, it'd be hard for them NOT to know, unless we just didn't tell them."

"Have we ever mentioned anything about fighting Voldemort?" asked Harry. "Anything about my scar, or the Order, or Dumbledore-"

"Him we know about," Rose cut in. "He was the greatest Sorcerer of all time."

"What'd you mean was? He's dead?"

"Yes, you said he died about twenty years ago in our time."

"But that would be around this timeframe," Ginny cried.

"How does he die?" Harry pressed on anxiously.

"We don't know, whenever we ask, everybody changes the subject. We even asked Teddy, and he tells us loads of stuff we're not supposed to know-"

"Teddy?"

"Yah, he's your godson, our god brother."

Harry had so many more questions for his kids, but as he was about to continue Hermione announced that lessons were starting in 20 minutes.

"Remember, stay in here," Hermione said as she pushed the portrait open.

"Okay," the five echoed back.

"Well, whatever this war is about, it seems to be pretty important," Rose said as their parents left.

"And it has something to do with dad's scar by the sound of it," Albus added.

"But he said he got his scar in a Quidditch game," said Lily.

"I doubt that now," James said. "Just like I bet Uncle George didn't lose his ear due to one of his jokes going wrong."

"We'll just have to coax what's going on out of dad," Lily said. "Or mum, Uncle Ron or Aunt Hermione."

"Why do our own kids know nothing about the war?" Ron asked for the second time as the picked at their breakfast.

"It looks like we never told them about it," Ginny said.

"But why?" pondered Harry.

"Well," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, it does seem pretty smart."

"What?" the other three asked in confusion.

"Think about it. If Harry did defeat Voldemort, he would probably be the most famous wizard ever. Would you want your kids knowing you as a celebrity or their father?"

"She has a point there," said Ron.

Harry and Ginny nodded. "But now they'll be asking us questions about it, seeing as we let it slip."

"We'll just hold our ground. After all they have to listen to us. We are they're parents."

"But I want to know more about after the war," Harry said. "Even if they don't know there was a war, they'll know how things are in general."

"Don't bother Harry, you heard Rose, after they leave, we'll go back to living life as if they never came."

"But-"

"Drop it mate," Ron advised him. "The more you ask them, the more they'll ask you."

The bell rang, and stuffing strips of bacon into napkins and placing them in their bags, Harry, Ron and Hermione went of the Charms, while Ginny headed to Transfiguration.

It was painful for Harry to have so many unanswered questions, especially when he knew he'd be finding out the answers for many years when he actually lived them out. He wondered if he could hold out asking until the kids were safely back home…


	6. Caught

"Wait until we make a distraction," Ron whispered to Harry as they walked into the potions classroom. "Then just go and get the stuff we need."

"Here's the list," said Hermione, passing it to him. "Try not to take so long."

They sat down at their table, and were soon joined by Ernie, which kept them from talking freely, much to their dismay."

"I'm finding that even without the stress of the O.W.L's this year, studying has still gotten harder," Ernie droned on. "But I've made a schedule that's similar to the one I had last year, and it really-"

"All right, settle down," said Professor Slughorn, bouncing into the room. "We're going to be concocting a rather unique potion today. The Hallucination Potion, causing drinkers to have sharp images of things that aren't there after they drink it. You'll find the directions on page 145 of your books. You may begin."

Harry flipped through the book absentmindedly, only pretending to examine the recipe because Slughorn was standing over him.

"Excellent thinking Harry my boy!" he boomed. "Sure thing to know what you're doing before you start making the potion!" Giving Harry a beaming smile, he headed over to look at the other potions.

Catching Hermione's eye, he gave her a short nod.

Understanding, she pulled out her wand under the table, and pointed it over at Malfoy's, and preformed a non-verbal spell of some sort, causing a dime sized hole to appear in the side of his cauldron, making the contents spill out all over him. His face got sort of a dazed look on it, and he collapsed into his chair, staring straight ahead.

"Oh-ho looks like you added too much essence of indigo!" Slughorn rushed over. "No matter, there's a simple spell that can get you back to normal in no time. Now let's see, what was it…"

While Slughorn and the rest of the class were being distracted by Malfoy, Harry snuck over to the student store, and rummaged around looking for what he needed. But only basic ingredients seemed to be in there, none of which were on the list Hermione had given him.

After quickly double-checking the labels on the jars, Harry accepted defeat and walked back to his table.

"Did you get them?" Hermione whispered as he sat back down.

"None of them are in there, just stuff we'd use in class."

She swore under her breath, "he must keep them in his office. I know he has them because half of them he would've had to use to make the liquid luck potion at the start of term."

"Well then how do we get them?"

She was about to answer, but just then Slughorn said loudly, "oh I've got it now. Lechertios!"

Malfoy's confused face was then replaced with his usual scowl, and the students rushed away from him.

"Alright there son? Yes, well that was an excellent opportunity for us all to see the effects of the potion. You should all be nearly done by know, I'll be by to collect them in just a few moments."

Realizing that he hadn't even started on his potion, Harry quickly looked over at his open book, hoping that the Prince would have directions for it.

Just poor in some goblin blood into boiling water.

Remembering the jar he saw in the store before, he ran over and grabbed the jar and dumped some in, making the bubbling water turn a misty blue color, just as Professor Slughorn came over to the table.

"Very good, Ms. Granger, Mr. Macmillan. Nice effort Mr. Weasly, but not so much dragon tears next time. And I should've known," he said, hovering above Harry with a grin on his face. "Don't think I could've done much better myself, my boy you really do have the gift!"

The bell rang, much to Harry's relief, and he quickly stuffed his books in his bag and cleared his supplies.

"That book is going to get you into trouble on day," Hermione said coolly as they filed out of the class.

"Hermione, it's just a book!"

"Riddle's diary was just a book, and look what it did to Ginny!"

"I'm not writing in it, just using some of the directions. Anyways, how are we going to get the ingredients now?"

"We'll have to sneak into his office wont we?" said Ron.

"It's the only way," Hermione sighed.

"Well when should we do it then?" asked Harry.

She looked around, and saw no one was around them, and replied in a lowered voice, "We have break next, and he has the second year Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaws so now's the best time…"

Waiting for the halls to clear of bustling students, they waited anxiously outside the door they knew to be Slughorn's office.

At last, silence hung over the castle, and the three cautiously double-checked that the coast was clear, Hermione unlocked the door with her wand, and they went in.

"It smells like a sweet shop in here," Ron commented as a sugary sent filled their nostrils.

"It must be the pineapples," Harry pointed to a large bowl filled with sliced crystallized pineapples.

"Hurry up and look!" Hermione hissed at them as she began opening drawers of the desk.

Nearly fifteen minutes had passed before Ron finally called them over to a large trunk by the window.

"Everything's in here!" Hermione said happily, giving Ron a hug. "We'll have more than enough for the potion!"

"And what potion might this be?" said a cold voice behind them.

They turned around and saw to their horror; Severus Snape was standing at the doorway, his lip curling into a sly smile.


	7. Why would you name me after him?

"So," Snape said, flicking his wand at the door, making it close. "You three have become so enthralled with the art of Potion Making that you simply cannot get enough of it in class? Thought you'd do a bit of it in your spare time?"

"We weren't-" Hermione started.

"Silence Ms. Granger," His eyes flickered to her hand, which was grasping the list of ingredients she had written down before. "What have you there?"

"It's nothing," she said quickly, stuffing it into her front pocket. "Just a spare bit of parchment that fell out of my bag."

Snape gave his wand another flick, and the list came flying out of Hermione's pocket, into his hand. His eyes flickered across the page.

"These are ingredients needed to make the potion that reverses the effects of a Portural Revinsive, correct."

Harry and Ron both looked at Hermione, hoping that she would have an answer to get them out of this, but she looked just as nervous as them, if not more.

"Well?" Snape said, in a voice hardly louder than a whisper.

"Yes Professor," Hermione said. "They are."

"And why would you need to concoct such a potion?"

"We heard it would be on our N.E.W.T. test," Hermione lied lamely. "We wanted to get a bit of practice on it before the exams."

"Do not lie to me!" he spit angrily. "Tell me the real reason why you are stealing ingredients for this specific potion now, or I shall make sure personally, that you three are expelled from this school!"

"You wouldn't believe us," Ron spoke up.

"Try me Weasly."

"Alright," Hermione said, Ron and Harry giving her befuddled looks. "We'll tell you. We were trying to make the potion go back in time to when V-Voldemort rose again two years ago. We were going to try and expose the imposter Moody for who he really was, so that none of this would of ever happened!"

Ron and Harry exchanged glances, both silently praying that by some wild chance, Snape would buy the story without any further questions.

"Ms. Granger, I am sure you are aware that the potion doesn't take you back in time, only returns whoever used the Portural Revinsive to their own time" he said shrewdly, Hermione avoided his eyes. "So I will ask you again. What do you need this potion for!"

Harry concentrated hard on blocking out his mind, for Snape's eyes had now shifted to him, and Harry was sure he was trying to penetrate his mind.

The thoughts of the kids came swimming to the front of his mind. James, Albus, Lily, Rose, Hugo. And then he saw the image of him and Ginny. They were leaning in, just about to kiss…. That was more than enough for Harry, and before he knew what he was doing, he whipped his wand out of his robes and bellowed, "Stupefy!"

Snape was thrown backwards, landing unconscious against a half-empty bookshelf.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped.

"He was using Legimancy on me," Harry said through his gritted teeth. "He saw the kids, though he may not now they're our kids, he might think they're some random first years or something."

"But Harry still! He's a teacher, you'll get in a lot of trouble!"

"What if we wipe his memory?" Ron asked thoughtfully.

"Wiped his memory?" Hermione repeated.

"Not all of it," he said quickly. "Just after he came in here and saw us."

"I don't know how to do that," Hermione said, sinking down into one of the overstuffed armchairs. "Ohhhh, this is all going so wrong!"

"Hang on," Harry said suddenly. "I think I've got an idea."

"What?" Hermione said desperately.

"Dobby!" Harry said loudly.

There was a loud popping noise, and Dobby appeared immediately, right next to Harry.

"Harry Potter!" he squealed excitedly. "Whatever is Harry Potter needing from Dobby?"

"We've gotten into a bit of a mess," Harry explained, pointing over at Snape. "See, he came in here and caught us doing something that we really needed to do, and well, it got bit out of hand."

"Dobby can see that sir, but what can Dobby do to help? Tell Dobby so he can do it. Dobby cannot wait to help the great Harry Potter!"

"You don't know how to modify memories, do you Dobby?" Harry asked. "We don't know how, it's really, really advanced magic, and if he wakes up and remembers what we did, well, let's just say we'll be on the train home before breakfast tomorrow."

"Dobby can do that sir!" Dobby said eagerly. "Dobby is knowing how to it!"

"Great," Harry said, relief spreading through him. "Just don't do his whole memory, just erase the last, say, ten minutes of it."

"Of course," Dobby went over to Snape, and raised his long fingers to Snape's greasy hair, and pulled from it, silvery liquid.

"Put it here," Harry said, conjuring a small vile. "Thanks a load Dobby, you've really saved our necks with this one."

Dobby bent into a low bow, "Dobby is always more than happy to help Harry Potter whenever he is needing it. But Dobby must be getting back to the kitchens now, or the other elfs will start to wonder where Dobby has gone." And with another loud pop, Dobby disappeared.

"Bloody brilliant Harry," Ron said hoarsely. "That was genius!"

"That was lucky," said Hermione. "Come on, we'd better hurry and get the ingredients before he wakes up."

Harry pocketed the vile. He'd have to rid of it later.

Soundlessly stuffing all the required ingredients in their bags, the three tiptoed out of the office, just as Snape began to stir slightly.

The bell rang, just as they reached the Great Hall, and students began pouring in for dinner.

"Did you get everything?" Ginny asked, sitting down next to Harry.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"We should be able to start making the potion tomorrow," Hermione said in a whisper. "It'll be Saturday, so we won't have to worry about classes."

"What is she staring at?" Ginny asked, looking at the end of the table.

"Who?" Ron asked, following her gaze.

"Romilda Vane, she keeps looking over here, giving me these dirty looks."

Sure enough, Romilda was whispering to a friend of hers, and seemed to be glaring at Ginny with quite some hatred.

"It's only because she likes Harry," Hermione said shrugging. "Ignore her Ginny."

"Hungry there?" Ron asked grinning, as Hermione piled about two-dozen pork chops onto her plate.

"They're not for me," she said; now adding five steaming baked potatoes. "The kids are bound to be hungry, they've been stuck up in the common room all day." She waved her wand, and a cloth appeared and began wrapping itself around the mountain of food. "We should go give it to them now, while it's empty up there."

"But I'm not done!" Ron protested, looking longingly at his half finished roast chicken.

'Ron!"

"Fine, fine I'm done," he said, slowly standing up.

So the four made their way back up to the Gryffindor common room, Ginny getting a very nasty face form Romilda as she passed.

The common room was empty, just like Hermione said it would be.

"James, shhh, somebody just came in," they heard Rose said from behind the couch.

James's head poked around from the couch. "Relax, it's just them."

"We've brought you dinner," Hermione said, pulling the package of food from her bag and handing it to the five behind the couch

"Thank god," James said. "I thought you were going to bring us breakfast too!"

"We were, but then the bell rang and we couldn't be late for class," Ginny explained.

"So you let us starve!"

"Just shut up and eat James," Albus said, biting into his second lamb chop.

Ron moved the couch out a bit so that they all could go back behind it, though it was a bit cramped.

"Did you get all the potion stuff?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Yes," Hermione and Ron answered together.

"Had a bit of trouble with Snape though," Harry said.

"What sort of trouble? You didn't mention that back down in the Great Hall," Ginny said worriedly

"Snape caught us stealing the ingredients," Harry said darkly.

"What did he do?" Ginny asked, her face contorted with shock.

"Er, he didn't really get a chance to do much," Ron said, who looked like he was struggling to keep a straight face.

"It's not funny Ron. Harry could've been thrown out of Hogwarts if Dobby hadn't showed up!"

"What happened?" Ginny said loudly as Ron opened his mouth to say something back.

"Harry ended up stunning him," Hermione said in a disapproving manner.

"Is that why he looked a little off beat at dinner?" Ginny asked, now grinning.

"I suppose so," said Harry, smiling also.

"Is this Snape's first name by any chance Severus?" Albus asked shrewdly, remembering the previous day when he heard a Snape in the room him and the others were hiding in.

"Yah," Ron said, grabbing a lamb chop from the pile. "Why? He doesn't teach in your day? Lucky, you are. He's a gigantic-"

"And was he a Slytherin?" Albus edged on, getting more and more worried that one of his namesakes wasn't as great as his father described him.

"When he was in school? Of course," said Harry. "Now he's also the Head of the house."

"But he had to have done something good," Albus said desperately.

"Not a thing," said Harry. "Why are you so upset about this?"

"Because," Albus said glumly, hanging his head. "I thought he was the bravest man you knew."

"What!" Harry exclaimed. "Who told you that?"

"You did," Albus said in a small voice. "Right before I left for Hogwarts. And, you named me after him."

"But your name's Albus!" Harry sputtered. "As in Albus Dumbledore."

"Right," he said. "My name is Albus Severus Potter. You said I was named after the two greatest Headmasters of all time."

At this point, even James had stopped eating, and was looking intently at Harry horrified face.

AN- Bad ending, I know. *** sighs* **This story is near impossible. I promise the next chap. will be much better.


	8. Questions and no answers

"But-but I hate Snape!" Harry stammered. "I wouldn't name my son after him!"

"And since when is he headmaster?" questioned Ron, frowning. "Dumbledore is."

"You told us that after Dumbledore died, Snape took over the school and-" Rose began, but was cut short by Harry, who exclaimed, "when did Dumbledore die?!"

Rose shrugged. "Sometime in either your sixth or seventh year, you weren't very specific with us, you know."

"But we're in our sixth year now!" Hermione pointed out, sounding worried.

"He must die doing something in the war," Ginny muttered to Harry.

"What is this war?" James asked, exasperated. "Can't you just tell us?"

"But if he dies, then You-Know-Who will have free range. Dumbledore's the only one he was ever afraid of," Ron said, ignoring James.

"Who's You-Know-Who?" asked Hugo, but like James, he got no response.

"We have to warn him," Harry said firmly, rising to his feet. "Tell him that he's scheduled to die soon."

"But would he believe you?" Hermione questioned cleverly. "I mean, what would you say Harry, '_Oh, by the way Professor Dumbledore, my kids from the future came to our time, and they told me you're going to die soon_.'?"

"I wouldn't say it like that," Harry told her indignantly. "What do you want me to do? Just let him die?"

"Of course not, all I'm saying is that you have to be careful how you tell him."

"You can't tell him tonight anyways," Ginny said calmly. "He's gone again. Or he wasn't at dinner at least. Besides, I thought once the kids go back to their time, we'd forget everything that happened."

"Damn it, you're right," Harry cursed, punching the back of the couch. "So Dumbledore is just doomed then? There's nothing we can do to help him?"

"Harry, he's very old," Ginny said gently. "He was bound to go sooner or later."

"I know," Harry said heavily.

Suddenly, the sound of the portrait door swinging open was heard, and the group immediately stopped talking.

"It's just Seamus and Dean," Hermione mouthed silently to them as she carefully peered around the couch. "They're going up to the dormitory."

A moment later, Seamus and Dean returned from the dormitory, this time equipped with there bags, and without a glance towards the hiding spot, left the common room empty once more.

"I still don't get why I named my kid after Snape," Harry said as soon as the portrait closed, bringing up the old subject once more. "He's so, I dunno, evil!"

"He's not evil Harry," Hermione said. "He saved your life in our first year, remember?"

"Yah, and then he spent most of the time after that trying to get me expelled!"

"Dumbledore trusts him," she said, as though that settled the matter. "And if Dumbledore trusts him, we should too."

"But he was a Death Eater before," Ron said thoughtfully. "Who says he really gave up his old ways."

"Ron, we've been over this a hundred times," Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. "Dumbledore obviously has his reasons."

"And Snape is in the Order," Ginny added.

"But there's loads of people in the Order," Harry said. "Sirius, your dad, Remus-"

"Remus? That's Teddy's dad!" James said.

"Remus has a son?" Ginny inquired.

"Yah, Teddy's our god-brother," Lily spoke up. "He's not at Hogwarts anymore, he works with daddy at the Ministry now."

"This is all too confusing," Ron muttered shaking his head. "Who's he married to anyways?"

"He's-"

"Hold on," James said abruptly, interrupting Lily. "Why are we telling you all this stuff about our time, when you won't answer any of our questions? I say we don't tell you anymore until you answer what we want to know."

"Pretty bright kid," Ron said to Harry under his breath.

"Oh, just forget it," Hermione said, getting up. "We're not telling you anything, and that's final. Come on, we'd better start on our homework." She made her way over to a nearby table.

"Don't dwell on the whole Severus thing," Ginny told Albus, who had been sitting with a distant expression on his face. Albus nodded, but said nothing.

Harry looked at his watch in surprise. "We have Quidditch practice in twenty minutes!"

"Blimey, we do? I've forgotten all about that!" Ron said, as he started spreading out his work across from Hermione. "Suppose I'll have to get to this later."

"But you're already so behind," Hermione pointed out. "I'm sure Harry would understand if you skipped practice just for tonight."

"Hermione, we have a match in two weeks!" Ron exclaimed.

"Fine," Hermione said simply, crossing her arms. "Just don't come crying to me when you have to stay up the whole night to get this done."

"Come on, it's not due until Monday. I have the weekend!"

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," she said, opening her book.

* * *

It was midnight, and the common room was completely desolate. The fire was put out, and the only light came from the full moon shining through the window.

James, Albus, Rose, Hugo and Lily were all wide-awake, lying cramped together on their spot behind the couch.

"I'm going to find out what the war is," James whispered furiously for the third time that night. "They can't hide it forever."

"James, why don't you just wait until we get back to our time?" Rose asked softly. "They're obviously not going to tell us, so long as my mum's around."

"I just want to know why dad would name me after someone that's evil," Albus said more to himself than everybody.

"It can't be that hard to out," James continued. "If it's a war, everybody's got to know about it. We just need to ask someone who's not our parents."

"James, we're supposed to stay right here until the potion is done," Rose hissed. "We can't go around asking people what the war is about!"

"Sure we can," James said, grinning. "We've just got to do it while they're not here."

"You're going to get us in so much trouble," Rose sighed.

* * *

AN- I'm so so so sorry I took forever to update! I just finished my midterms, so hopefully, updates will be quicker now. Like always, thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it. Reviews are loved!


	9. Answers from Lovegood

"James, come on, let's just go back, we have no clue where we're going!"

"Relax Rose," James said. "I have a plan."

"What? To get us into even more trouble?"

"No, to finally find out what's going on around here! Don't tell me you don't want know too."

"Of course I want to know," Rose said heatedly. "But we'll be back in our own time soon enough, our parents started brewing the potion yesterday, can't we just wait until we go back?"

"The potion won't be done for about twenty days," Hugo reminded his sister as the group turned a corner.

"Yah, and maybe after we find out about what this war is, we can help," put in Albus.

Rose let out a sigh of frustration. "But it won't do any good! I've told you, once we go back to our own time, everybody here won't remember us, and things will go back to the way they were before we came!"

"Still," James said, completely unmoved by Rose's remarks and anger. "Can't hurt to do a bit of investigating."

After Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had gone to their morning classes, James had insisted that the five of them go see if they could find out what exactly this was that their parents seemed so intent on. The kids had spent an uneventful hour so far, wandering corridor after corridor, following James's lead.

"James, where are we going?" Lily questioned as they walked down the same hallway for the third time.

"You'll see," he whispered back. "Just stay quiet and-"

Two sets of footsteps were suddenly heard in the corridor, followed shortly by two voices.

Quickly, James opened up a nearby broom cupboard, and waved for everybody to get in. He had no sooner shut the door; when the voices and footsteps came to a stop where they had been standing previously.

"I must say, I don't think his heart is all in it," they heard one of the voices say. It was unfamiliar to them, though it sounded very old and wise.

"I worry that the Dark Lord may know that," the second voice said. This one, the five did recognize as, Albus's stomach did a lurch, Severus Snape. "He always knew when someone did not give something all their efforts."

"I do not think we have to worry about that Severus, Voldemort does not expect Draco to succeed, after all, this is merely punishment for Lucius's blunder at the Ministry, correct? No, what I'm most concerned about is who else he may harm in his path to attempt to get to me."

"I've tried relentlessly to get him to confide in me what he may be doing next, but he will not budge."

"Of course not, I'd imagine Voldemort has threatened his family, and as wrongly led as the boy may be, he still does have a heart, and therefore wants to protect them."

Snape muttered something, and the other voice let out a small laugh. "It would be foolish to offer protection so early on. He'd never accept, and Lucius is still in Azkaban. When the time is right, I will extend it to him. But I doubt that he will need it. If the plan succeeds, then what do they have to fear? Nothing more than usual."

Once more Snape said something inaudible.

"You gave me your word Severus. And I would expect you to follow it out." And with that there was the sound of footsteps leaving the corridor. Lily made to open the door, but James quickly pulled her hand away.

They heard Snape let out a long sigh, and then, after another moment, they heard his footsteps depart as well.

The five were still until they could no longer hear any footsteps. James cautiously opened the door a crack, and peered into the hall.

"Let's go," he said to the others.

"What do you reckon that was all about?" Rose asked as she stepped out.

"No clue," James replied. "I recognized that one voice though, it was-"

"-Severus Snape," Albus finished for him, not looking James in the eyes.  
"Yah, and I guess he's supposed to be doing something for the other bloke, but whatever, that's not really important, probably some school related thing. Let's get back to our plan then."

"If you can call wandering in circles a plan," Rose said under her breath.

James continued to lead the group around Hogwarts, occasionally passing a student on break.

"James, what if our parents see us," Lily asked after awhile.

"They won't," James assured her. "I heard dad telling Uncle Ron that they wouldn't have break until after double Charms, so we should be safe for at least another half an hour. Hold on," James held up a hand for the others to stop. "I think we may have found her."

"Found who?" Rose whispered, exasperated.

"Luna," he answered grinning. "Have a look." He pointed down a corridor, to a girl with long, silvery blonde hair, with what appeared to be orange radishes in her ears. She was leaning against the wall, humming quietly to herself, as she drew on a bit of parchment.

"Luna?" Rose repeated in whisper. "Oh James, you can't be serious!"

"I'm dead serious," James said simply. "She was good friends with our parents at school, so she must know what's going on. And I can't imagine Luna not telling somebody something if they asked."

And with that, he started down the corridor. Reluctantly, the others followed in suit.

The five came to a stop in front of Luna.

"Hello," James said to her as Luna looked up at the apparent strangers standing in front of her.

"Hello," she said in her dreamy voice.

"What're you drawing there?" he asked, pointing down at her elaborate sketch sitting in her lap.

"A Swishy Toed Balgonder," she answered seriously. "I think I may have seen one by the Great Lake yesterday after Care of Magical Creatures."

"Er, what exactly is a Swiffy Toed Balgoer?" James inquired, trying to keep a straight face.

"Swishy Toed Balgonder," Luna corrected him. "They're little amphibians that like to scurry into peoples' ears and look at the view from their eyes."

"What?" Rose sputtered. "That's completely ludicrous!"

Albus gave her a small shove in her side to shut her up.

Luna didn't seem to pay any mind to her comment, or at least chose not to respond to it.

"Anyways," James continued, giving Rose a stern glare. "We're new here. What's you're name?"

"Luan Lovegood. But everybody calls me Loony Lovegood."

"Right," he said, still straining himself not to laugh. "I'm James. This is Albus, Rose, Lily and Hugo. And rumor out in the corridors is that you're pretty good friends with Harry Potter."

Luna said nothing for a moment, but stared at the five of them, as though trying to read them. "Yes, I suppose they're all calling him the Chosen One aren't they."

"The Chosen One?" Albus blurted out before he could stop himself. "Why?"

"Because of what happened at the Ministry last year," she shrugged. "But that's only the prophet making up stuff. Nobody heard what the prophecy said."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what prophecy?" James demanded. "And what happened at the Ministry last year?"

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and I all flew to the Ministry on Thestrals, because Harry had some sort of a dream about his godfather, Sirius Black. But when we got there, it turned out to all be a trap to try to get Harry to take some prophecy about him and You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who?" Hugo asked, puzzled. "You don't even know his name?"

"I know his name," she airily. "But I've always been told not to say it. Don't you know about him? I thought everybody did."

"Well see, we, er-" James stuttered enviously.

"You must be victims of Wimplebirds," she said, looking them over again.

"What?" Rose said, wrinkling her eyebrows in confusion.

"Wimplebirds, tiny little creatures that fly into your brain and erase all important memories from it. Yes, you all show all the symptoms…Especially her," she pointed at Rose, who opened her mouth to retort, but Hugo stepped on her foot to shush her.

"Yes, that must be it," James said, a rush of relief spreading over him that their cover had not been blown. "So anyways, back to what I was asking, who is this You-Know-Who?"

"He's a very Dark wizard," Luna said. "He tried to kill Harry when he was a baby, that's how he got his scar. But when he couldn't kill Harry, his killing curse backfired onto him, and he disappeared for thirteen years, but then he came back and he tried to kill Harry again last year at the Ministry."

James stared at her in awe. "Da- I mean, Harry Potter, survived a killing curse? I thought there was no way to block those. And how could-" but the bell rang, cutting him off.

"I hope you get your memories back from the Wimplebirds soon," Luna said, picking herself off the floor. "It helps if you eat lots of goat stomach, it lures them right out of your brain."

And with that, she skipped off down the hallway, leaving James, Albus, Rose, Lily and Hugo standing dumbfounded.


	10. Secrets come undone

"James, we need to get back to the common room!" Rose said as students began to scramble to classes. "They're on break now, our parents, they'll see we aren't there!"

"I can't believe it," James said, staying rooted to his spot. "How come dad never told us about this "Dark Wizard" he defeated?"

"This actually explains a lot," Albus said thoughtfully. "This must be the reason so many witches and wizards seem to know dad before he even introduces himself."

"Yes, but we really need to get back," Rose said urgently. "Our parents are bound to be nearly back up to the common room.

"Right," James mumbled, still looking distraught. "Let's go."

"How are we even going to get back into the common room?" Albus asked as the children quickly made their ways through the corridors. "The Fat Lady won't let us in, remember?"

James stopped in his tracks. "Oh yah… Didn't think about that."

"What!" Rose exclaimed. "James, this is probably the most stupid thing you've done!"

"Shut up will you and help me think of a way to sneak in!" James snapped. "You're supposed to be the smart one."

"There's no way to get in without going through the portrait door," she retorted hotly as the neared the common room. "We'll just have to wait until our parents get back, and then _you _can tell them what we we're doing out."

"It's not all my fault," James shot back. "You could've tried to stop me before we snuck out."

"I did!" Rose exclaimed, exasperated. "I swear, James Potter, you are the most idiotic fool I've ever met! I wouldn't have believed even you could be this stupid-"

"What are you lot doing out here?" came a voice behind them.

The five turned around to see Neville coming towards them, looking confused.

"Thank god," James breathed in relief. "We, er sort of got locked out Neville, you think you can somehow manage to sneak us back into the common room without our parents knowing?"

Neville raised an eyebrow at him. "And what exactly were you doing out here in the first place?"

"Oh you know," James started sheepishly. "Just, er, stretching our legs, having a nice little stroll… So, can you get us back in?"

Neville stared hard at James for a moment, and then sighed in defeat. "You're bloody lucky," he said. "The Fat Lady and her friend, Violet, had a bit too much wine to drink last night. She's suffering from a really bad hangover, she probably let anyone who has the password in."

"Excellent," James grinned. "We're saved. What's the new password, it changed this morning, didn't it?"

"Er, I think it's Hippogriff," Neville told him unsurely. "I'm not great at remembering theses…"

"We'll just try it out then," Albus decided. "Come on…"

They reached the portrait; Neville was indeed right, the Fat Lady was leaning on the side of her tapestry, a look of drowsiness on her face.

"Hippogriff," Neville said clearly.

"Yes, yes, go in," the Fat Lady slurred, opening up without paying any mind to Neville's five accomplices.

Luckily, the common room only had a few students sitting by the fire, all too occupied by their massive assignments to even look up, so James, Rose, Albus, Lily and Hugo were able to rush behind the couch unseen, just as Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped through the portrait door.

"I think you're getting a bit obsessed with the whole Malfoy ordeal, Harry," Hermione said in a hushed tone as Harry crammed a piece of parchment into his pocket.

"I'm not obsessed," Harry retorted. "You're telling me you're not the least bit curious about what's going on with him-"

Hermione shot him a glance to be quiet, as the few students who had been working looked up.

"'Lo Neville," Ron said, spotting Neville standing by the couch.

"Hi," Neville replied. "Flitwick's lesson was really hard today, wasn't it?"

"Yup," Ron agreed. "I reckon my bullfrog won't ever be the same…"

"We'd better get started on our Transfiguration essay," Hermione said, pulling out her book and settling at a table. "We don't want to be rushing to do it tonight, when we, er, have more important things to do." She added the last part in a whisper so that only Ron and Harry could hear her. They knew she was talking about the potion.

"Yah, all right," Ron sighed, taking a seat next to Hermione. "Though I really have no clue what I'm supposed to be writing about."

"Haven't you been paying attention to what Professor McGonagall has been teaching?" Hermione inquired.

"Well, I've tried, but you know, it gets kind of dull after a while, really."

"You're unbelievable," Hermione said, shaking her head. "Utterly unbelievable…"

Meanwhile, behind the couch, the five children were quietly discussing their newfound knowledge.

" I can't believe dad is some huge hero and he never even told us," James said. "I mean, that's the sort of thing you might want to mention to your kids!"

"I'm sure he had a good reason for not telling us," Rose put in. "Anyways, what I really want to know is what's going on between Severus Snape and Dumbledore. They seem to be planning something."

"Yah, but what?" Lily asked.

"Probably something to do with this war that's going on," Rose told her. "They're on the same side, after all."

"So we think," Albus muttered darkly. The others stared at him.

"What?" Albus said defensively. "You don't think there's something odd about him? Why was he trying to help Malfoy's dad with some plan in secret? Doesn't that seem a bit off?"

"Al, it's probably nothing," Rose said. "He's a teacher after all."

Albus said nothing, but simply shrugged his shoulders. "Anyways, we'll be able to ask our parents everything we want to know when we get back." Rose said. "Let's just wait until then."

* * *

The next morning, Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron dressed early and snuck back down to Moaning Myrtle's toilet, where the potion to reverse the effects of the Portural Revinsive were brewing in one of the beat-up stalls.

"Hand me that jar of Doxy Clippings, Ron," Hermione instructed him as she began to stir the concoction. "I need to add them on the fifteenth stir."

"So," Ron said, handing the bottle to Hermione. "Who _do _think Lupin gets married to? The kids never told us."

"I don't know," Hermione said, measuring the correct amount of armadillo bile. "I don't think he's ever shown a love interest in anyone."

"That's not important," Harry said. "Am I the only one who's curious to how we win this war?"

"Of course we are Harry," Hermione said in a patient voice. "But I've told you that once this potion is done, all the effects of the Portural Revinsive will be reversed; we won't remember anything they told us."

"Well then why are we sending them back?" Harry said angrily. "They're the answer to getting rid of Voldemort!"

"And how exactly do you think you'll react in the future when all of the sudden your children disappear into another time?" Hermione pointed out.

"Besides, if we haven't even told them about You-Know-Who in the future, we obviously haven't told them how we won the war," Ginny said.

"Fine, fine," Harry said, defeated.

"Whose there?" a voice from the next stall called over. Ron, Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. They knew the voice.

"It's us, Myrtle," Hermione called out, unsurely.

"Oh, you again," Myrtle said in a dry voice, gliding through the stall wall to face them. "I thought that it was, never mind, he wouldn't be in this bathroom anyways."

"Who wouldn't be?" Harry questioned. "Someone else comes in here?"

"No," Myrtle said, "But I thought maybe he'd want to visit me, I did like him an awful lot."

"Wait, you're not going into the boys toilets, are you Myrtle?" Ron demanded.

"I go wherever the U-Bend takes me," she replied simply. And with that, she dived into the toilet, creating a big splash.

"Blimey," said Ron. "We're not safe anywhere from her!"

* * *

It was well past midnight, and the common room was empty, except for, of course, James, Albus, Rose, Hugo and Lily.

Albus, Rose, Hugo and Lily were all asleep, curled cramped together in the small space behind the couch. James, however, felt wide-awake.

He had just found out that his father was a widely known hero, who evidently held the power to save the wizarding world from some all-powerful sorcerer. Twelve years he had known his father; his whole life. And not once, had his father made any mention of this. _Why? _James thought to himself over and over again. _Does he not trust us? Does he think we're too childish for this information?_

Sighing, James rested his head on his knees. What else didn't he know about his father?


	11. Contemplation

James sat silently on the couch, looking out the adjacent window, watching the teaming rain soak the castle grounds.

He still couldn't believe what Luna had said about his father being a hero. Sure, he knew his dad was a pretty good wizard; being an Aurror and everything, but James never would have thought that Harry had saved the entire wizarding world years before his own birth.

But it wasn't this shocking news that caused James to remain sleepless while his siblings and cousins slumbered away in the hidden spot behind the couch.

_Why did he never tell me? _James thought to himself for what felt like the millionth time. _I'm his son…_

It felt like a betrayal, a slap in the face from his hero. James had always thought his dad trusted him one hundred percent; the two were very close.

_Flashback_

_It was nearing midnight, but James wasn't the least bit tired. He had just celebrated his eleventh birthday that day, and was now sitting on his bed, flipping through his new Quidditch book that his Uncle Charlie had gotten him. His mother had told him to go to bed an hour ago, so James had to remain quiet, as to not alert her that he was still awake. _

_Finishing up a section about techniques for catching a Snitch quicker, James heard a knock at his door, and his father stepped into the room._

"_Oh hi dad," James said, scrambling to get under the covers. "I was just getting to bed-"_

_Harry smiled knowingly at his son. "James, your mother's asleep, you don't have to pretend anymore."_

_James grinned._

"_Anyways," Harry continued, sitting down at the foot of the bed. "I've got your present."_

"_But I thought you already gave it to me," James said, settling down next to Harry. "You got me that broomstick servicing kit."_

"_I know, I know," Harry said. "But this is something extra." He handed James a package. _

_Tearing the wrapping off, James revealed a large cloak. _

"_A cloak?" James questioned, examining the cloak. "Um, thanks dad."_

"_Try it on," Harry told him._

_Obeying, James stood up, and threw the cloak over his shoulders. _

"_It's pretty big," James commented. "I kinda drags on the-" he stopped in mid-sentence as he caught sight of himself in the mirror; or rather his floating head, for the rest of his body was invisible. _

"_Wow!" James said in awe as he continued to stare at his floating head. "I'm invisible!"_

_Harry chuckled. "It's an invisibility cloak. It belonged to my father, and he got it from his father- basically it's been in our family for a long time."_

"_Whoa," James said, taking off the cloak, feeling a great deal of respect towards his father. "Thanks dad!"_

James simply did not understand why his father had been willing to trust him with that invisibility cloak, and not with his early triumphs.

Suddenly, James heard footsteps coming down the boys' staircase. He turned to see Harry coming into the common room.

"Oh, you're still up," Harry said, spotting James. He quickly stashed a piece of parchment into his pocket.

"I was just going to sleep," James said, slowly rising from the couch.

"Hold on," Harry said.

"What?"

Harry took a deep breath. "I need you to tell me some stuff about the future."

* * *

AN- Yah, I know, short chapter. But hey, first week of summer  So I should have the next chapter up in a few weeks, I'm working on it right now. I hoped you enjoyed!


	12. Room of Requirements

"But I told you," James said. "You never told me anything about what's happening now. How could I tell you anything that can help you?"

"But I must have said something in the future," Harry said. "Maybe I let something slip one time."

James shrugged. "Maybe."

"Right then," Harry said, nodding. "Maybe I said something to Remus that you over heard. I mean, if his kid is your god-brother, we must be close."

"Remus died when Teddy was only a baby," James said.

"What?" Harry said loudly.

There was the sound of one of the other kids stirring lightly in their sleep behind the couch.

"We should talk somewhere else," Harry said, reaching into his pocket. "I know where we can go." He pulled out his Invisibility cloak and threw it over himself and James. Quietly, the two made their way out the portrait door.

"Where are we going?" James whispered as Harry led him down a corridor.

"Just wait," Harry said.

The two reached a corridor that James recognized as one on the seventh floor of the castle.

"What are we doing here," James asked. "There's no classrooms in this corridor."

"Be quiet for a second," Harry instructed, taking the invisibility cloak off. He paced back and forth a few times in front of what James thought to be an old broom cupboard. "Alright then," Harry said, stopping suddenly in front of the door. "Let's go."

"In there?" James said. "That's just a broom cupboard."

But he was proven wrong as Harry opened the door to reveal a large room equipped with two comfy looking armchairs, a round table with a few Sneakoscopes sitting on it, and a single bookshelf in the corner.

"What is this place?" James asked in awe, looking around the room.

"Room of Requirements," Harry answered. "It becomes whatever the user needs it to be. It was dead useful last year, until we got caught using it, but I reckon we should be safe for now.

"Anyways, back to Lupin, how does he die?"

"I don't know," James said. "All you ever told us was that he died a hero. You might have told something different to Teddy, but that's all I know."

"If he died a hero, that must mean he died fighting in the war," Harry reasoned. "What about Teddy's mum? Did she ever say anything?"

"She died when Teddy was a baby as well. All I know about her was that she passed on her Metamorphmagus powers onto Teddy."

"Metamorphmagus?" Harry repeated. "That has to be Tonks!"

"Yah, that's it," James nodded. "And actually, I think you said she died the same way her husband did."

"Well, then maybe on of the Weasley's said something." Harry pressed on. "Think, didn't you ever hear anything about a war or Voldemort?"

"Actually, I heard that Snape fellow and Dumbledore talking about a Voldemort a couple of days ago," James said thoughtfully.

"What? How?"

"We, er, sort of snuck out of the common room," James admitted. "Sorry."

"No, no that's fine," Harry said. "Just tell me what they were talking about."

"Well, Dumbledore said something about this Voldemort threatening somebody named Draco's family, and that's why he's doing something," James told him, trying to recall everything he had heard from the conversation. "Dumbledore said that Draco's heart wasn't in something, and that he was worried that he might harm somebody else in his path to get to him."

"What else?" Harry said urgently. "What did Snape say?"

"He said something about Draco refusing his assistance," James said. "And that he wants to offer Draco protection from the Dark Lord. And then Snape said something I couldn't here, and Dumbledore just said that Snape had already agreed to do it, and that was it."

"So Malfoy really is up to something," Harry said. "I was right."

"Wait, Draco is a Malfoy?" James inquired.

"Yes, you know about the Malfoy's?"

"I know that they're no good," James said darkly. "I think his son is in the same year as Albus. He's awful."

"But why would Draco need protection if was made a Death Eater," Harry wondered aloud. "What's he trying to do? You sure that was it?"

"Yah. I mean, the others and I didn't think much of it at the time, we were more concerned with-" James stopped in mid-sentence.

"With what?" Harry asked suspiciously. "What were you doing out of the common room anyways?"

"We were looking for somebody," James said slowly.

"Who?"

"Luna Lovegood."

"Luna?" Harry repeated in surprise. "Why?"

"To find out what's going on," James said. "We wanted to know what this war is about."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, one of the Sneakoscopes on the table began spinning rapidly.

"Damn, someone's coming," Harry said, pulling a piece of parchment from his pocket. He muttered the phrase "_I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," _and at once a map began to appear.

"It's Malfoy," Harry said, indicating to a dot labeled Draco Malfoy that was coming their way. "We need to get out of here!"

Quickly throwing the cloak back over him and James, Harry cautiously opened the door, and the two slipped out of the room just as Draco Malfoy came around the corner.

Like Harry had done moments before, he paced in front of the door Harry and James had just come out of, and then after looking around, went into the room.

"Of course!" Harry said once the door closed behind Malfoy. "_That's _where he's going when he disappears from the map! The Room of Requirements doesn't show up on it!"

"What kind of map is this," James asked, studying the map over Harry's shoulder. "It's bloody brilliant!"

"No time," Harry said. "This is perfect. I might be able to sneak into the room and see what Malfoy is doing!"

Harry rushed over to the door to the room and opened it, only to discover that it was a broom cupboard.

"He must have it sealed," Harry said, disappointed. "Well, this is still something. At least now I know _where _he's doing whatever it is that he's doing. Now I just need to figure out _what _he's doing."


	13. CaughtAgain

"I can't believe you talked to James, Harry," Hermione said disapprovingly, stirring a cup of lacewings into the potion. "It was completely irresponsible of you."

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny were once again crammed in the stall in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, all huddled around the steaming cauldron containing the Revictero.

"I didn't actually tell him anything important," Harry said. "And everything he told me, we'll forget when him and the others leave anyways. What's the harm?"

"It's just so sad about Lupin and Tonks," Ginny sighed.

"Yah, it is," Ron agreed. "But I can't believe they got married! I mean, who would've thought?"

Harry nodded. "I still want to know _what _Malfoy is up to."

"Harry," Hermione said sternly, looking up from the potion. "We have enough to worry about without you obsessing over what Malfoy _might _be doing."

"Hermione, I told you what James overheard Snape and Dumbledore talking about. He's supposed to be doing something for Voldemort!"

"And how do you know James didn't mishear something?" Hermione said. "Besides, Harry, I keep telling you, it would do you no good to find out about anything-"

"Hermione, I know that we'll all just forget everything in a few days," Harry said. "But if I have some of the answers sitting _right in front of me _I can't just sit back and not even ask about them. It's been driving me insane!"

"Harry," she sighed. "I know how hard it is. I want to know what happened in the war, and with everything else just as much as you do, but right now the important thing is getting the kids back into their own time."

"She's got a point, mate," Ron said.

"So," Ginny said, changing the subject, how much longer until the potion is ready?"

"Oh, only about a week and a half longer," Hermione said brightly. "It's coming along really nicely. Once the dragon saliva has completely brewed, I can add the beetle eyes and dried pixie wings."

"You do realize that once the kids go back to their own time," said Ginny. "They'll bombard our future selves with questions about the war and You-Know-Who and everything else."

"Yes well," Hermione said. "Lets deal with one problem at a time. There's really nothing we can do about that anyways."

"So you told dad all about what happens in the future?" Albus exclaimed as James told him and the others about what had happened the previous night. "But why? You're the one who said not to unless they told us stuff about the war!"

"I know, I know," James told his younger brother. "But well, it's not like dad will remember once we leave anyways, so really I didn't help him all that much."

"And he didn't tell you anything?" Rose asked.

"No, I told you, Scorpius's dad interrupted us before I could ask anything."

"But I thought Luna already told us what we wanted to know," said Lily.

"Luna only told us the basics," Albus explained. "There's still a ton more our parents have been hiding from us."

"Well, we can find all that out when we go back to our own time," Rose said.

"I can't believe how long we've been here," sighed Hugo. "I'm starting to get homesick."

"We only have a little more than a week left," Rose told her little brother comfortingly.

"Thank goodness," said Albus. "I'm getting real sick of sitting behind this couch the whole day."

"I know what you mean," James nodded. "We should at least be allowed to sit by the fire or something while lessons are going on."

"We can't!" Rose hissed. "Students might come back up here during their break! Or worse, a teacher might come in!"

"Rose, in all the time we've been here, a teachers never once come in," James said. "Come on, I'm freezing. Lets go over by the fire, just for a few minutes."

"James-" Rose started, but him, Albus, Lily and Hugo had all climbed over the couch and were now heading over to the flickering fireplace. Rolling her eyes, Rose reluctantly joined them.

"You see Rose," James said, grinning. "This isn't so bad."

"James Potter if you get us caught-"

But before she could finish her sentence, the portrait door swung open, and Professor McGonagall stepped in.

"What in the world!" she said, stopping in her tracks when she spotted he five children by the fire. "You lot again?"

"Er, hello professor," James said nervously.

"I don't know who you five are," she said sternly. "But I do know that you are most certainly _not _Gryffindors, and this common room is off limits to any other house. You all are in serious trouble, come with me."

She motioned for Rose, James, Hugo, Albus and Lily to follow her out of the portrait hole.

Slowly, the children rose, and followed Professor McGonagall.


	14. Too Close

Professor McGonagall marched the five through the corridors at such a quick pace that they had to jog to keep up with her.

"James," Rose whispered. "What are we going to do? She's going to figure out that we aren't students here!"

"I'm thinking!" James hissed back. "Just give me a minute!"

McGonagall finally slowed in front of a door, pulled out her wand and tapped the handle, which immediately turned, opening the door.

"In here!" she snapped at the children. "Now!"

They obeyed, and stepped through the door into her office.

"Now then," she continued, still fuming. "I want to know exactly who you are! I know every student in this school, and I now know you do not belong here! When I first saw you five, I thought that perhaps your names and houses had simply slipped my mind, but I have come to my senses. Now _who are you?_"

James and Albus exchanged worried glances. There was no way they were getting out of this one.

"Well," James started nervously. "You see-"

"You're right," Rose said suddenly, cutting him off. "We don't go here. The truth is, we're really underage."

"Underage?" Professor McGonagall repeated.

"Yes," Rose nodded. "But just barely. Next year, me and my two cousins," she waved over at James and Albus. "And I will be coming here. But the reason we are here now is well, sort of an accident."

"What sort of accident?" McGonagall pried.

"Our parents took us to Hogsmeade, and we wandered off while they were looking in a shop," Rose started. "We really wanted to go see the Shrieking Shack, because everyone says it's the most haunted building in Britain. But when we got there, we decided to go and have a closer look, so we went inside."

"That still doesn't explain how you got inside the castle," McGonagall said, crossing her arms.

"Well, see, there was this sort of tunnel we found," Rose continued. "And we thought it might be fun to follow it and see where it led. But it led up to the roots of a really big tree, and then we saw the castle, and well, we didn't think it would hurt to have a look around."

"You're telling me," Professor McGonagall said, sounding flabbergasted. "That you five got to Hogwarts from the Shrieking Shack?"

"I suppose so," Rose said.

"What- what tree is this that you're talking about?" she asked; now gripping the side of her desk.

"It was a moving tree," Rose replied. "The second we all got out from the passage, it started to swing its branches everywhere. We had to run to avoid getting hurt."

"But-but why have you been here all this time?" she asked. "I saw you here days and days ago!"

"That's the thing," Rose said, looking down. "We don't know how to get back. Every time we tried to get back to the passage, that crazy tree comes to life and blocks the tunnel."

"I-I'm shocked," McGonagall said. "Never in all my years here have I realized that there was such a way to enter and leave the school. And especially now, in these horrid times, security needs to be at its best." She fiddled with the hem of the sleeve absentmindedly as she appeared to be in deep thought.

"Alright," she said after a few moments had passes. "I suppose the first thing that must be done is alerting the headmaster. Now, you lot stay put while I go fetch him. If anybody comes in here, you do not, under any circumstances, tell him or her anything. Do you understand?"

The five nodded.

"Good." And with that, she turned on her heel and quickly headed out the door.

"Rose," James said once the door had closed behind her. "That was the most brilliant thing you have ever done!"

"How did you think to say all that?" Albus questioned.

"I remember Uncle George telling me about all sorts of secret passages in the school right before I came here," she answered.

"But Rose," Lily said. "Now she's coming back with the headmaster!"

"I know," Rose said. "The only thing we can do know is make a run for it back to the Gryffindor common room."

"What? Are you crazy?" James exclaimed. "If she gets back here and we're gone, she'll have the school searching for us!"

"I know," Rose said. "But if we don't, then she'll eventually try to send us away from here back to where we apparently came from!"

"Right," James nodded. "Let's hurry then, before McGonagall comes back!"

After peering out the doorway to make sure the coast was clear, the five left the office, and started making there way up a staircase that would take them to the Gryffindor common room.

"Keep your ears open," Rose whispered as they began climbing the steps. "And if you hear a teacher coming, we'll all run into the nearest classroom."

They made it up the staircase without any encounters, and when they reached the corridor that led to they Gryffindor common room, they broke into a run.

"We actually made it!" Albus said. "I can't believe we actually made it!"

But just then, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny turned the corner of an adjacent corridor, coming face to face with the five.

"What are you lot doing out of the common room!" Hermione exclaimed. "What if somebody sees you?"

"Don't have to worry about that anymore," James said. "Hurry and up and open up the portrait door before McGonagall comes up here!"

"McGonagall?" Hermione sputtered as Harry gave the password, and the portrait door swung open. "You mean McGonagall saw you?"

"Yes," Rose said, as her and the others rushed into the common room.

"What did she say?" Harry asked.

"Can we explain later?" Albus asked nervously. "Once McGonagall realizes we left her office, she'll probably come straight up here looking for us. We need to get back under the cloak. _Now!_"

Swiftly, him and the other four covered themselves with the Invisibility Cloak, and made their way behind the couch; just as Professor McGonagall stepped through the portrait hole.

"You lot," she said briskly to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. "You haven't seen rather young students in this common room that you don't recognize around here, have you?"

The four shook their heads. "No professor," Hermione said. "The only young students we've seen here we know to be Gryffindors."

"Very well," McGonagall said curtly. "However, if you do, alert me or another teacher at once."

She turned on her heel and marched back outside the common room.

"That," Ron said once the portrait door had swung shut. "Was close."

"Too close," Hermione said.

"We're really sorry about that," James said, sticking his head out from behind the couch.

"Yes well, hopefully now you've seen why you have to stay under that cloak."

He nodded.

"Right then," Hermione said, looking at her watch. "It's nearly lunch time. We'll bring you back as much as you can from the table."

"And stay put," Ginny said, as her, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed towards the exit. "We can't afford another close call like that again."

"Well, I hope you're happy with yourself, James," Rose said. "Now we'll have to deal with McGonagall searching for us the rest of the time we're here."

For once, James didn't have any snide comeback. "I'm really sorry," he said sincerely. "It was all my fault."

"Oh," Rose said, clearly taken back by James taking responsibility for his actions. "It-It's okay. We'll just have to be careful from now on, that's all."

"I just can't wait to get home," Hugo said. "I miss our own time."

"Don't worry," James said. "Only a little while left."


	15. Back Home

"There," Hermione said proudly, adding the last of the pixie wings into the potion. "It's done!" She stared happily as the Revictero simmered softly, sending up purple and gold circle of smoke.

"Finally!" Ron said from his corner of the stall. "I got to hand it to you Hermione, you really know your potions."

Hermione blushed slightly.

"Now what do we do with it?" Ginny inquired, leaning over the cauldron to get a better look.

"All five of the kids need to drink a goblet of it," Hermione explained. "And then, if it was brewed correctly, they'll be transported right back to where they came from."

"Well, we should go get them then," Harry said, standing up. "We've had enough close calls with them."

Ron nodded. "Although, I think I might miss the little buggers, though."

"No you won't," Hermione said to him. "You won't remember anything about their little visit here."

"But our future selves will sure be in for a long night of questions," Ginny said. "I mean, after everything they found out here, they're bound to question us!"

"I know," Hermione sighed. "But we need to get them back. So let's go hurry up and fetch them."

_Gryffindor Common Room_

"You think our parent's will really tell us everything when we get back to our time?" James asked from behind the couch, chewing on a piece of sausage that Ginny managed to grab from the breakfast table.

"I don't see how they can avoid it any longer," Albus said.

"Besides," Rose said. "If they don't tell us the answers, I'm sure I'd be able to find them in some book. I'm actually surprised I've never come across anything regarding the subject before."

"Mum and dad probably took note to hide all book with anything in them," Hugo said. "Mum's probably got a big old collection of them somewhere in the attic or something."

"I just miss mum and daddy," Lily said sadly. "We haven't seem them in days!"

James pulled his little sister into a hug. "We'll be seeing them soon, Lil."

Just then, the five heard the portrait door swing open, and they instantly fell silent.

"It's us," Ron's voice sounded.

"Oh thank goodness," James said, standing up. "I thought it was McGonagall again. She's been in here twice already."

"We've finished the potion," Hermione said, smiling.

"Really?" Rose said. "So we can get back to our time now?"

"Yup," Ginny said. "And we owe it all to Hermione's potion knowledge."

"Let's just hurry up and get them down to the bathroom," Harry said, looking at his watch. "Break will be over soon, and we don't want anybody nosing around."

"Right," Ron said. "You lot, throw on the cloak and follow us."

Obeying, James, Lily, Rose, Hugo and Albus covered themselves with the Invisibility Cloak, and followed their parents out of the Gryffindor common room, and through the corridors and down flights of stairs until they at last arrived at Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Hurry up and get inside," Hermione whispered, checking around her to make sure the coast was clear.

"It reeks in here," Lily said, once the five were inside the lavatory.

"That would be the Revictero brewing," Harry said.

"Bring the cauldron out here," Ginny said. "There won't be enough room inside the stall."

Harry and Ron lugged the heavy cauldron out of the stall, careful not to spill any of its contents.

"Alright," Hermione said, fishing out five goblets from here bag. "You'll need to drink these at the same. Now, when you first taste it, you're supposed to feel a slight tingling inside your heads for a few seconds, then you'll feel a loud pop, and it will be like you're blacking out, but don't worry, because the next thing you'll know, you'll be back in your own time.

"Okay," James said, as him and the others accepted their goblets from Hermione.

"Well," Harry said. "I guess this is goodbye."

"Yup," Ron said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, you'll be seeing us in a few years," Rose pointed out.

Hermione smiled. "You're right."

"Don't be too hard on us in the future," Ginny said. "You know, bombarding us with questions and everything."

Suddenly, the bell signaling the end of the break sounded, and the hallways became filled with the sounds of students heading off to their next lessons.

"Drink them now!" Hermione said.

Simultaneously, the five children raised his or her goblets to their lips, and drank the Revictero. Hermione was right about the reaction. Once the potion slid down the kids' throats, they felt a tingling sensation in their heads, which was closely followed by a loud popping sound. Directly after that, each child's vision began growing fuzzy, and the bathroom they were in grew fainter and fainter. And then it was gone.

Slowly, the five got their vision back.

"We're back!" James exclaimed, looking around at his new surroundings. "We're back in out time!"

The other four all grinned.

"The potion worked!" Lily said.

"Let's put this Portural Revinsive back before anything else happens," Rose said, cautiously picking up the box-like object and placing it back where they had gotten it from.

"Guys, you do realize that we still haven't found a way to clean up the living room," Hugo pointed out.

"Hugo, we've just found out that our parents have been telling lies to us for our whole lives," James said. "I think we've earned our selves a free pass on the living room."

"Speaking of which," Rose said. "I think we need to sort out our questions for out parents."

"Right," Albus said. "Let's get to work."


	16. Answers at last

James, Rose, Albus, Lily and Hugo sat in James's room for nearly an hour, discussing which questions they needed answered first, and which could wait a bit. Around midnight, the children heard a loud popping noise, meaning their parents were home.

"Oh, they'll be furious when they see the broken vase," Rose said, as the children started down the stairs to greet their parents. Sure enough, a second after they heard the popping noise of their parents apperating back into the house, Ginny let out a shriek of surprise, and yelled up the stairs, "James, get down here!"

"Why does she always assume it's me?" James mumbled.

"What did you do?" Ginny exclaimed when the kids entered the living room. She was pointing to the remains of the goblin-made vase.

"Er, we had a bit of an accident," James said slowly. "But that's not important-"

"What do you mean that's not important!" Ginny shouted. "James, I've told you a million times not to do things like this!"

"At least he didn't break the good vase in the dining room," Harry told his wife. "Actually I always thought this one was kind of ugly…"

"Anyways," Albus said, stepping next to his brother. "We need to ask you all something."

"Yes," Rose nodded.

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny exchanged looks. "What?" Harry asked.

The children looked at each other, they didn't really know how to start this conversation.

"How come you never told us about what happened while you were at school?" James blurted out. "About the war, and how dad really got his scar and all that?"

Their parents stood flabbergasted. Ron let out a low whistle, Ginny and Hermione looked stunned, and Harry seemed like he had just been hit over the head with a saucepan.

"Well?" Albus said.

"How-how did you find out about all that?" Hermione finally asked.

"We, sort of, went back in time," Rose admitted. "But it was by mistake!"

"What do you mean _went back in time_?" Harry questioned.

"After we messed up the living room," James started. "We kind of went into you and mums room to look for something to help clean it up, and we found this box-like thingy, which just happened to be a Portural Revinsive, and it took us back to your sixth year."

"And then we met your younger selves," Lily piped up. "And we told you who you were, and then Aunt Hermione managed to make a potion that sent us back here."

"Bloody hell," Ron said softly.

"We want some answers," James said boldly. "It's not fair that we didn't even know our own parents are heroes."

Ginny, Hermione and Ron all looked at Harry, who sighed and said, "all right then, let's sit down."

The group all took seats on the Potter's enourmous couch.

"I suppose you want to know everything?" Harry said.

All five children nodded eagerly, and Harry began.

"Wow," James said softly, when Harry finally concluded his tale. "That-that's bloody amazing!"

"I can't believe you survived a killing curse. Twice!" Lily exclaimed.

"I know! And that _our grandma_ took down one of Voldemort's top Death Eaters," Hugo said.

"I'm just glad that Voldemort finally got defeated," Rose said. "I don't think I could bear having such a Dark wizard around."

"But why couldn't you just _tell_ us all this before?" Albus asked the adults.

"We thought maybe it would be too much," Ginny said gingerly. "After all, Voldemort killed hundreds of thousands of witches and wizards."

"But we realize how wrong we were," Hermione said. "We should have told you; it must have been awful to find out such big news like this."

"Well, at least we finally _do _know," Rose said. "You know, I bet Professor Binns will be telling us about the wars and Voldemort sometime in our third or fourth year in History of Magic."

"Just don't expect him to be as thrilling as Harry," Ron said. "That ghost can make Quidditch seem unexciting."

"Oh my goodness," Hermione said, looking at her watch. "Ron, it's nearly three in the morning!"

"Good thing we have off of work tomorrow, then," Ron said. "Alright, lets get out of here Rosie and Hugo."

After bidding farewell to the Potters, Ron took Rose's hand, and Hermione took Hugo's and the four apperated with a loud pop.

"You lot need to get up to bed," Ginny said. "It's way past your bedtime."

"We don't have bedtimes," James said, signaling to him and Albus. "We're too old."

"James, it's nearly sunrise, go get some sleep."

"Fine," James sighed. "Night mum and dad."

After the Potter children had clamored up the stairs into their bedroom, Ginny turned to Harry.

"So, now they know."

"Yup," Harry nodded.

"They were bound to find out eventually," Ginny said. "Like Rose said, they would've heard in class. I'm just surprised they haven't heard anything sooner."

"It's kind of weird, though," Harry admitted to her. "At work, and everywhere else I've gone I've always been known as 'The Boy Who Lived', of 'The Chosen One'. But at home I was always just Harry, I don't want my own kids to think of me as just somebody who stopped a Dark wizard nineteen years ago."

"They're proud of you for that," Ginny told him. "And no matter how many people call you 'The Chosen One' or 'The Boy Who Lived', they'll always still think of you as their dad, the one who stayed up with them when they were sick and taught them all to ride brooms."

Harry smiled. "Thanks."

Ginny gave him a quick peck on the lips. "We should probably get to sleep as well; mum will probably want us all to come over tomorrow for a big family lunch."

It was half after four, and Harry still couldn't sleep. He looked over at Ginny, who had fallen fast asleep once her head hit the pillow. Sighing, Harry got out of bed, put on his dressing gown and headed into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea.

He was just pouring the water into the cup when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and a second later Albus appeared.

"Oh, hi dad," he said. "I-I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither, " Harry nodded, smiling kindly at his youngest son. "Want some tea?"

"Sure."

Harry got another cup and teabag, and was pouring the water into it when Albus said, "dad, there's still one thing I want to know."

"What is it?" Harry asked, taking a sip of his tea.

Albus took a deep breath. "When we were in your school days, we came across Snape, you know, the man who I'm partially named after. And your younger self thought he was awful and evil. And then when you were telling us everything, you said he was a Death Eater and killed Dumbledore! Why would you name me after someone like him?"

"We named you after him," Harry told him calmly. "Because like I've always said; he was one of the bravest men I've known."

"But how-"

"That was the one part I left out of the story," Harry said. "I knew you would want to know about it, so I wanted to tell you alone. When we saw the snake kill Snape in the Shrieking Shack, that wasn't the end of it. Once Voldemort left, I went over to Snape. A silvery substance was forming around him. He told me to take it; it was his memory. I collected it, and then, right before he died, he told me to look at him. I did, and a second later he was dead."

"I still don't see what made him so great," Albus said.

"I didn't either," Harry said. "Until I looked at his memory. It was very far back, to when he was maybe ten years old. He was in a park, watching two girls. But one of these girls could do extraordinary things, for she was a witch, although she didn't know right then. Snape approached her and told her. At first, the girl didn't believe him when he told her the reason she could do these things. But soon, the girl became good friends with Snape. She got her Hogwarts letter, and the two of them set off to Hogwarts together. You know who this girl was?"

Albus shook his head.

"My mother."

Albus's mouth fell open. "Your mum?"

"Yes. When they got to school though, my mum went into Gryffindor, and Snape into Slytherin. They tried to keep their friendship. Even though Snape started to become fascinated with the Dark Arts, he still stayed close to her. This went on for five years, and then Snape made a mistake that would haunt him forever. My dad and his friends, one day, decided to taunt Snape. They were causing a real scene. My mum came over, and told my dad to stop it. Snape, who was so embarrassed and humiliated, hissed that he didn't need a mudblood's help. My mum acted like she didn't care, since nobody knew of their friendship, but Snape knew she was mad. She wouldn't forgive him , she believed him to be too obsessed with the Dark Arts now. She fell in love with my dad and married him. Snape went to work for Voldemort. Things stayed that way until Snape found out that Voldemort was going after my parents. He couldn't bare to lose my mum, he loved her after all, so he rushed to the one man who he knew could help; Dumbledore. It took a lot of convincing to make Dumbledore trust Snape, but Dumbledore saw how pure Snape's love was, and took him in. From that moment on, Snape's allegiance was to Dumbledore. Even after Voldemort disappeared and my mum died, he stayed with Dumbledore. When Voldemort came back to power, Dumbledore instructed Snape to go back, and would feed the Order information. Voldemort would be under the impression that he was really a double agent for the Death Eaters benefit."

"If Snape really was on Dumbledore's side," Albus said slowly. "Why would he kill him?"

"You remember what I told you about the Deathly Hallows, don't you?"

"Yes," Albus nodded. "The Elder wand, the Resurrection stone and the Invisibility cloak. When they're united, they give the user the ability to master death."

"Right," Harry said. "And I told you years and years ago, Dumbledore tried to unite them. He got obsessed with it; that's why he had the cloak to give to me my first year at Hogwarts; he borrowed it from my dad. Anyways, when Dumbledore came across the ring Voldemort had made a Horcrux, he noticed that the stone in the ring had a marking on it. He then realized it was the mark of the Deathly Hallows, and that the stone was actually the Resurrection stone. Dumbledore hadn't thought about using the Hallows in years, but when he saw this particular one, he slipped. He wanted to talk to his parents and sister. He put the ring, forgetting for a moment that Voldemort had part of his soul in it. The ring hurt Dumbledore greatly; he was barely able to get back to the school. When he did, Snape was able to stop the curse from spreading; but the damage was already done. He had about a year to live."

"Wait," Albus said thoughtfully. "If Dumbledore was already dying, then…"

Harry smiled. "Dumbledore had ordered Snape to kill him. This way, Draco Malfoy wouldn't have to, Voldemort would gain even more respect for Snape, and the Elder wand, which was, as I told you, in Dumbledore's possession, would have not true master anymore, well, that was until Draco disarmed him, of course."

"Is that what Snape and Dumbledore were talking about back in your sixth year?" Albus asked. "Snape was saying he didn't want to do something; was that what it was?"

Harry nodded. "Snape started to feel uncomfortable with the plan soon, but he knew that it had to be done."

"So he did all that, because he loved you mum?" Albus asked in amazement. "But- but if Voldemort ever found out that he was really on Dumbledore's side, he would've been killed!"

"Love," Harry said. "Has always been stronger than hate. From the second that Voldemort threatened my mother's life, he was gone from the Dark side. Do you see now why you're named after him?"

Albus nodded. "Yes."

Harry smiled. "Good. Now, hurry up and get back to bed before your mum sees you're still up. It'll be my head on the line if she does."

_**Next Day**_

"So," James said the following afternoon. "Now we know why people always gasp when they hear our names."

"And look up at your dad's scar," Rose said.

"And why Uncle George only has one ear," Lily said.

The five children were sitting in Ron's old room at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley insisted on having everyone over for a big meal, to celebrate the children's arrival back from Hogwarts.

"Our parents' are heroes," Hugo said happily.

"True," James nodded. "Although, they don't seem very different. I mean, even hearing all that amazing stuff they did, they're still, just, well, my mum and dad."

Rose nodded. "I know what you mean."

"Say Al," James said to his younger brother. "You've been quiet; what's up?"

Albus looked up. "Oh, just thinking," he replied lightly. Truthfully, he was still replaying what his father had told him in private last night. In the past, he had always been a little jealous of his brother and sister. They were named after his father's deceased parents, and he had just received the names of two old schoolteachers. Now, however, his name gave him a sense of pride, and the fact that he was the only one of his siblings and his cousins that new the story of it only added to that great feeling. He would tell them soon, he had decided last night. Harry had told him right before he went to bed that he could choose to tell them when he was ready, but for the time being, he enjoyed his secrecy.

"Kids, foods ready!" came the cry of Mrs. Weasley up the stairs.

"Excellent," James said, jumping up. "I'm starved! I've been smelling grandma's roast for nearly an hour now!"

The children clamored down the steps and joined the family at the large table piled high with their grandmothers cooking, and surrounded by their parents and cousins and aunts and uncles, ready to enjoy.

AN- So, the end at last Thanks for following the story and reviewing. I actually made two drafts of this story. The first one was fifteen pages, because I actually wrote out Harry and the others telling the children everything from their past. But then I decided that most people reading this story would already know what happened, so it would be really pointless and boring for them to read it again.


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